Deus Ex Machina
by Llandaryn
Summary: Staff Lieutenant Eloise Shepard is pulled out of an Alliance engagement with the Batarians and given a promotion, along with a new post on humanity's newest war-ship. But when she meets a Spectre onboard, she begins to suspect that nothing is as it seems.
1. The Road

Deus Ex Machina

_1. The Road_

_AD 2177_

_Day One_

The room was small and dark. The sharp tang of disinfectant permeated the air. Machines beeped regularly at different tones and pitches, singing a song that told trained ears that all was well with the patient. When one of the machines sang out of tune, interrupting the harmony of the composition, a hand turned a dial, altering the dosage of medication, and the machine sang in tune once more.

On the single gurney in the small dark room lay a woman. Her blue eyes were wide open but unfocused, unseeing, her face framed by messy brown hair. Her breathing was slow and deep, her blinking carefully timed as if she was controlling it consciously. Clad in white medical slacks, she lay curled in the foetal position, oblivious to the thin white sheet that was only partially covering her body. Tubes were attached to her body via needles, inserted into her arms and legs where the veins were thickest. They connected to bags and containers, some feeding fluids into her body, others removing waste from her blood-stream.

The figure standing behind the machine controls was tall, and he wore a white coat. On his left arm was a medical omni-tool, currently deactivated until it was required. And, as he listened to the song of the machines and turned the dials whenever one of them faltered, a second man approached him.

"Doctor," said the second man. "How's she doing?"

"A little better. I've healed most of the physical damage, but it's still a little too early to tell how this will affect her mentally."

"Do you know what's wrong with her? Why she's like... this?" He gestured at the unseeing woman.

"Acute stress reaction. I've seen it before, but I've never seen anybody this bad."

"Are you sure she's not comatose? I've seen men comatose with their eyes open before. Waking-comas. That's what you people call it, right?"

"Quite sure, General. I've analysed her brain-wave patterns. They're quite obviously lacking in delta-waves. She's definitely awake."

"Maybe we just need to give her a little more time. It's only been five days since we extracted her from Akuze. I was told by the marines who pulled her out that the rest of her squad had been slaughtered. It's a horrific thing to see, even for soldiers."

"Right now, that might be our only option. I can pump her full of drugs and gel until she's overflowing, but it's not going to make her come around any faster. For the moment, we have to let her work out everything in her head. When she's come to terms with everything that's happened to her, she'll talk."

"I'll be in my office. Keep me apprised of her status."

"Of course, General."

The second man left, and the first turned his attention back to the song of the medical machines.

_Day Four_

The ambient temperature in the room never changed. It was always 295K, carefully monitored by the facility's Environmental Control System. It was also responsible for mimicking daylight; based on the 24-hour Earth day cycle, the EVS gradually increased or decreased the intensity of the facility's lighting. But there were no seasons here. Dawn was always at 05:30, and dusk was always at 22:00, regardless of the time of year.

The room was light, now, indicating that it was close to midday. The woman on the gurney was sitting upright, ignoring the untouched tray of bland hospital food on the table beside her. An orderly had brought the tray two hours ago, and she had not touched it. Her appetite was non-existent, and she drank only water, and only when her body requested it.

Most of the needles and tubes had been removed from her arms and legs. Now there was only a single drip, feeing into her left arm, and electro-pads attached to her chest, hooked up to an ECG. On the screen beside the bed, she could watch her own heart rate. Sometimes she held her breath and watched it increase to compensate for the lower levels of oxygen in her blood. Sometimes she took slow, deep breaths, flooding her body with air, watching her heart-rate slow. Whenever the machine beeped too fast or too slow, a nurse or a doctor appeared to give her a stern, disapproving glare when they found her conscious and well. It was one of the ways she entertained herself. One of the ways to keep her mind off Azuke.

The door of the room swished open, and a doctor entered, his long white lab coat swirling around him. He was what she had come to think of as a typical doctor; tall, middle-aged, with just a light scattering of grey showing in his dark hair. His only possession was an omni-tool on his left arm. It was a medical model, therefore not one that she was familiar with.

A nurse and two orderlies followed the doctor into the room. The latter waited beside the door, whilst the nurse stepped to the doctor's side, a datapad in her hands, ready to take notes.

"Good morning, Eloise," the doctor smiled. "Do you remember who I am?"

"Yes. Doctor Ferry. You've introduced yourself every day since I was brought here. Is there some reason I _shouldn't_ remember you?"

"You seem in much better humour today," he observed, ignoring her question as he activated his omni-tool and scanned her body. "But I see you haven't eaten your food. Why is that?"

"Because it looks like crap and it smells like crap."

"The food that we provide to patients is designed to convey all nutritional needs in one meal," said the nurse with a smile.

"Do you eat it?"

"Well... no..."

"Then I don't see why I should."

"Eloise," said Dr Ferry, examining the readings on his omni-tool, "Your seratonin and dopamine levels are low. When was the last time you slept? I mean _really_ slept, for a few hours or more?"

"You're the doctor, you tell me."

"Patient's irritability caused by low levels of seratonin and dopamine. Suggest supplements if no improvements in two days time," said Ferry to the nurse. She duly recorded the notes, her fingers flicking over the screen of the pad with the ease of familiarity. "Well Eloise, I think it's time for a move. We're going to take you to the main recovery ward."

"I like it here."

"I'm sure you do, but this is a trauma unit. We brought you here to treat you, but now you're almost as good as new, and the unit needs to be freed up in case of other emergencies. Now, the orderlies here are going to wheel you down to Recovery, and I'll be along shortly to make sure you're settled in. I think we can take these off, now."

He reached out and took the pads from her chest, beneath the white medical shirt, and untaped the drip from her arm before extracting the needle. The omni-gel that her body had been flooded with quickly worked to seal up the tiny hole in her arm that the needle left behind. The ECG was switched off, and the room fell silent.

Dr Ferry nodded at the orderlies, then left with the nurse in tow, no doubt to write up reports for the Alliance brass. Or maybe to come up with more 'treatments' for her. If she was really lucky, they might even be planning to provide her with better food.

The orderlies worked quickly to unhook the gurney from the locks in the floor, and before she knew it she was being wheeled down long corridors. Out here, the smell of disinfectant was even stronger, as if somebody had liberally doused the place in it. What kind of hospital was this? She saw no other patients and no other doctors as she was wheeled along the corridors. There were doors leading off to rooms, but they were numbered, not named.

The orderlies pushed her gurney through a pair of double swinging doors, and she found herself in a large room. Empty beds lined walls opposite each other, with screens separating them. This large room was as bright as hers had been; except for one corner, which was in darkness. It was to this corner that the orderlies took her, putting her in the bed beside the dark-screened cubicle.

"Brought a room-mate for you, Private," one of the orderlies said as they flipped the brakes on her bed's wheels, fixing it into place.

"Fantastic." The voice from the darkness was pained and male.

"Another insomniac, like you," the other orderly chuckled. "Misery loves company, right?"

"Right."

"The Doc will be along in a few," said the first orderly, turning to her. "Take it easy, Serviceman."

When the two men left, Eloise looked around the room. The screens to her left and right separated her from the cubicles on either side of her. Across the other side of the room, she could see other empty beds, and noticed a curtain that could be pulled down from the ceiling at the foot of her bed, closing her off from the beds opposite, if she wanted total privacy.

All of the beds had tables beside them, and a chair for a visitor -- or possibly nurse or doctor -- to sit at. What kind of hospital had so many empty beds? She had only been in one other hospital before, on Earth, and that one had been jam-packed with people. The patients had outnumbered the doctors and nurses, who spent most of their time looking tired and harassed. Clearly this place was nothing like that. Nobody had deigned to tell her where she was, but perhaps this was her opportunity to find out.

"You can't sleep either?" she asked aloud.

"That's right. Been two days for me. How long for you?"

"I don't know. I don't really know how long I've been here for. Before that I was on a mission. I was injured. I don't even know how they got me off the planet."

"Injured badly?"

"I... can't remember. I think so. But Dr Ferry thinks I'm pretty much recovered now."

"What are you in for?"

"I'm not sure."

"Check your data-chart. It's at the foot of your bed."

Obligingly, she crawled on her hands and knees to the foot of the bed, looking over the end until she found a datapad attached to the side. She flipped through the pages, her fingers drifting over the arrows to turn the pages of her notes. Most of it was undecipherable medical-babble.

"Here's something," she said, finding a reference to herself. "'Patient suffered from broken arm and shattered pelvis. Damage repaired but patient kept under observation for PTSD.' What does that mean?"

"PTSD? That's post-traumatic stress disorder. You must have been through something pretty bad, for them to suspect you have PTSD." The voice sounded somewhat impressed.

"What are you in for?" she asked, directing the conversation away from her ordeal.

"Headaches."

"They put you in hospital for headaches?"

"They're a little more serious than headaches," said Dr Ferry, appearing from nowhere. He took the pad from her hands as she tried to smother the look of guilt she felt cross her face. He simply put the pad back at the foot of the bed, then walked around the screen to the next cubicle. "And how are we feeling today, Kaidan?"

"We're just fine, Doctor Ferry. I'm ready to return to duty. In fact, I haven't felt this good in years. Must be all the excellent care I get here."

"Hmm." There was the beeping sound of an active omni-tool at work. "Your body is still producing endorphins. Still reacting to pain. Now, I understand your desire to leave here, but you know full well that if you leave before the migraine has passed, you'll only make it worse and I'll be seeing you again tomorrow."

"But Evals are..."

"I know when Evals are, but you won't be penalised for this. I'll make sure the assessors know that you had genuine reason for missing the first sessions. You can catch up later, after your team assessments."

"Right." The man in the cubicle beside her sighed in defeat.

Doctor Ferry appeared again, stepping into her cubicle to run his omni-tool over her body. She never liked being on this side of one. People were supposed to be _behind_ an O-T, not _in front_ of one.

"As for you, Eloise... you've no doubt read from your chart that the physical damage to your body has been repaired, but I'm scheduling a series of counselling sessions for you."

"I don't need counselling."

"I disagree. You've gone through a major trauma, and though I can fix the damage to your body, I can't help your mind to heal. Besides, the media got wind of your mission. They're calling you a hero. 'The Hero of Akuze'. We've already had to turn away several journalists. A counsellor can help you come to terms with the lime-light... and advise you on how to deal with all the attention you'll be getting. I'd also like you to eat the meals you're brought. I know it's not what you'd like, but until you start eating, we'll have to keep you in. And if you don't eat, we'll have to put you back on intravenous feeding. Or maybe put a feeding tube into your stomach. You don't want that, do you?"

"No Doctor Ferry," she intoned, feeling like a child replying to a teacher.

"Good. Now try to get some sleep. That goes for both of you. I'll come back tomorrow to check on you again. If you need anything, press the call button." He indicated a round, red button on the wall behind her. "See you in the morning."

The doctor's footsteps were silent as he left, the only indication that he had moved was the swishing of the double doors. She waited for a count of sixty, listening carefully to the sounds around her. It wouldn't surprise her if the doctor had crept back to eavesdrop on her, to spy on her.

"The food in here's pretty dire, but you really should eat it. He's serious when he says he'll keep you in or put you on a feeding tube."

"Why do you care?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at the screen to her right, where the cubicle's occupant lay in darkness.

"We soldiers have got to stick together, right? We've got to look out for each other."

"How do I know you're even a soldier? For all I know you're Ferry's counsellor, and he left you here to try to get me to 'open up' or whatever."

"Right. I'm faking migraines just so I can miss Evals and have the pleasure of talking to you."

"Why else would you be hiding behind that screen?"

"I'm not hiding. The light sends terrible shooting pains into my brain. Dim your light and I'll gladly get rid of the screen."

She reached up to the light on the wall above her, her fingers manipulating the dial as the light began to dim. When she'd dimmed it enough, the screen slid backwards, into the wall. On the bed beside her lay a young man, lying prone with his head resting on his folded arms as a pillow. He squinted when the dim light of her lamp reached his dark eyes, and she could see lines of pain painting his face. Even lying down, she could tell that he had a few inches height on her, and probably a couple of years age.

"Kaidan? Is that your name?" she asked, remembering Doctor Ferry's words.

"Kaidan Alenko, Private First Class, N7 Marines. Definitely not a psychologist. And you're... Eloise?"

"Serviceman Second Class, Eloise Shepard. I prefer Ellie. Also not a psychologist."

"Nice to put a face to the voice. No offence, but you look like you could use some sleep."

"None taken. Where am I, Kaidan?"

"Arcturus Station. The N7 training facility. We have one of the best hospitals in the Alliance. Probably because of the... occupational hazards."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that marines often get hurt during training, and we need the best doctors to patch us up and let us keep fighting the good fight."

"And you're really in here for headaches?"

"Like the Doctor said, it's a little more serious than headaches. Migraines, mostly. Extreme sensitivity to light, and sometimes sound. Dizziness, nausea... still, I'm one of the lucky ones. Most people with L2 implants end up with irreparable brain damage."

"You're a..." she hesitated over the next word.

"Biotic? Yeah. We're not the monsters that the media makes us out to be. Don't worry about it, everyone is a little wary at first. Can't say I really blame them. I'd be worried about me too, the way the media reports so vehemently about biotic extremists and their terrorist activities."

"You're here to train as a marine?"

"That's right. I may be a biotic, but I don't want that to define who I am. And there's no rule barring biotics from enlisting. Providing I pass my Evals later this week, I'll pass with the rank of Corporal."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. Do you mind if we don't talk for a bit? I'm at the 'sound causes pain' part of my migraine."

"Of course. I'll let you rest."

She settled down into her bed as Kaidan closed his eyes and buried his head in his arms. She wished she could do the same. But every time she closed her eyes, images flashed across her mind. Images of Akuze. Images that she wanted to forget. And during the brief periods that she had actually managed to find sleep, nightmares awaited her, waking her within moments. If she had it her way, she would never sleep again.

_Day Five_

"It looks like a night of rest did you good, Kaidan. Your endorphin levels are down to normal. Looks like you won't miss Evals after all."

"Thanks, Doctor," said Kaidan, relief evident in his voice. He jumped off the bed and stopped beside Ellie, flashing her a smile as he pulled on his jacket. "You take care of yourself, Shepard. Maybe I'll see you around some time."

"Yeah. Good luck, Kaidan. I hope you kick ass."

"Did you manage to sleep last night, Eloise?" asked Ferry as Kaidan left the room with a spring in his step.

"No. But I did eat the stuff that you're trying to pass off as food. It made me want to puke."

"Your digestive system's reaction to solid food. You've been on intravenous liquid for the past few days. You'll find it easier to eat food, the more you try."

"Unless I throw it all up."

"I doubt that. Now, are you ready for your first counselling session?"

"No."

"Wonderful. Come with me, and I'll introduce you to our psychologist."

With no other choice, she followed him out of the room and down a series of corridors, punctuated by sharp turns and confusing junctions. It was almost as if somebody had designed this place simply to confuse its inhabitants. And, as with her journey down to the recovery ward, she saw no other patients and no other doctors.

The room Ferry took her to was large and less clinical than the recovery ward. There were plants sitting in pots on desks, and even a songbird in a large aviary at the far side of the room. The main feature of the place was a large, half-rectangular sofa, made of brown leather and with a brown teak table nestled beside it. A woman, with long blond hair and dressed in casual black and grey clothes, was seated on the sofa, but she stood when Doctor Ferry entered the room.

"Eloise, this is Doctor Angela Kay, our psychologist and counsellor. Doctor Kay wants to help you come to terms with everything that's happened to you recently. She's an expert in her field, and has treated hundreds of people from all walks of life," said Ferry.

"Welcome, Eloise," Dr Kay smiled. "Why don't you take a seat, and we can have a little talk over a drink."

"I'll leave the two of you alone," said Ferry, leaving and closing the door behind him.

"Would you prefer tea or coffee?" Kay asked. She sat down on the sofa beside the table and poured herself a cup of tea.

"Neither. I just had breakfast. It's my first day back on solids and I don't think my stomach could handle anything else."

"That's understandable. Won't you take a seat?"

"Thank you, but I prefer to stand." She had automatically taken up an at-ease military stance, standing straight, her legs apart, her arms behind her back as if preparing to make a report.

"Alright. Will you tell me a little about yourself?"

"Everything I can tell you is in my file, which you've no doubt already read and analysed."

"That's true, but reading words and hearing a first-hand account from someone are two entirely different things, as you probably know."

"Look, Doctor, I appreciate your concern, but I don't want you poking around inside my head, and I don't need a friend."

"You're an Engineer. It's your job to take something that is broken and put it back together again. That's no different to what I do."

"Is that what I am? Broken?"

"That's what I'm here to find out. Why don't we start at the beginning?"

"The beginning isn't the best part. Why don't we start in the middle?"

"If you're handed a broken weapon and told to fix it, do you strip it down only half way? Or do you take it apart completely to search for the broken component?"

"Don't compare your job to mine. It's not the same. Ask your damn questions."

"I understand that you were orphaned as a child? That you grew up in the New Kingston orphanage in London?"

"That's right."

"Tell me a little about it. What was it like?"

"It was like an orphanage. You really have to see one for yourself."

"I'd like you to try to describe it for me. Tell me what it was like for you, as a child. What you saw, what you heard, what you smelt."

"It was large, full of kids, some of them orphaned during the First Contact War. Some like me, who were simply left on the doorstep by their parents with the clichéd note pinned to them. I shared a room with five other girls, all similar in age to me. Though the administrators tried their best to keep order, the orphanage was often a lawless place, with older kids picking on younger kids."

"Were you ever picked on?"

"Of course. But I was smart enough to make friends with a couple of older kids. I'd run errands for them, spy on other kids for them, fetch them things from the shops, cover up their lies for them."

"And when you were older, you also helped the younger children, protecting them from some of the older bullies. Because you had been in their position yourself, you could empathise with them. You wanted to help them."

"See, I told you you'd already psycho-analysed my profile."

"How old were you when you joined in the gang warfare that went on beneath the London metropolis?"

"I didn't join, I was conscripted. It was comply or die."

"How old were you?"

"Fourteen."

"And how did it happen?"

"I was working part-time in a restaurant. Not a fancy place, but good enough that they vetted everyone they employed. I just collected empty plates and took them back to the kitchen for washing. One day whilst I was working there, coming to the end of my shift, the Blood-dog Gang hit it hard. They'd heard about another gang's drop-off... ket cut with eezo, and they thought they could sell it at a higher price and use the money to buy more weapons to seize control of the area. When the drop didn't happen, they thought they'd rob the place instead.

"When they left, they took three hostages, and I was one of them. The other two were middle-class women with husbands rich enough to provide a mediocre ransom. The law pursued us all the way back to their hide-out. Once we were there, we settled in for a fire-fight. Only, it turned out the Blood-dogs had good reason to want better weapons... theirs were on the verge of falling apart. I offered to fix them, in exchange for letting the other two hostages go. They agreed. I fixed their weapons, they released the other hostages, and using smoke grenades I'd fashioned from old parts, they made their escape, taking me with them. They decided my skills would come in useful, and decided to keep me on."

"It was an interesting negotiation that you managed. You saved the lives of those hostages, of that I have no doubt. But at the expense of your own freedom. And you also helped to re-arm a criminal gang. That sort of sympathy can land a person in trouble with the law."

"Don't start with the analytical bullshit again. I know what you people call it... 'Stockholm Syndrome'. That wasn't why I helped the Blood-dogs. I did it because I had the chance to leave my old life behind. To improve my skills, to get away from the orphanage with its rules and regulations and curfews. Put it down a rebellious teenage phase, if you like. Besides, once the Blood-dogs realised the kind of skill I had, they didn't want to risk me going over to one of their enemy gangs. They didn't give me much of a choice."

"But you did have a choice, and you chose to leave the gang, even leave Earth, to join the military. You enlisted when you were eighteen, starting out as a simple military technician. Your commanding officers quickly realised that you weren't being challenged enough. They recommended that you undertake combat training, and since passing your training you've been working as an Engineer, providing support to Alliance ground units. But tell me... how did you acquire your interest in tech in the first place? What sparked your desire to fix things?"

"I've always liked fixing things. I've always had a knack for it. When I was in the orphanage, the other kids would bring me their broken toys. It was another way that I made friends. Another way to keep the older kids off my back."

"About what happened on Akuze--"

"I've made my report already. I have nothing more to add."

"I would like to talk about it."

"I wouldn't."

"Very well. But at some point, you're going to have to come to terms with what happened. There is something I'd like to try. Hypno-therapy. I can take you back there, to relive events, to help come to terms with them, but you have to be willing."

"No," she said firmly. "I'm not going back to Akuze. Not physically, not in my head. And I'll die before I let you take me back there."

"Very well. Perhaps we'll speak more tomorrow. I think that we've made progress today. I'll ask one of the orderlies to take you back to the recovery ward, but I'd like you to try to get some sleep."

"Right. Sleep. I'll do that."

_Day Seven_

The recovery ward was silent. Since Kaidan had left, two days ago, there had been no other personnel admitted to the ward. It was hardly a surprise, though. The marines were currently undergoing Evals, being tested on their skills, their abilities, their knowledge. They weren't going through their normal training regime, so the risk to them was much less.

Lying on her gurney beneath the dim light of the lamp, Ellie was restless. She didn't like being in the hospital. There was nobody to talk to. Nothing to do. Alone, with only her thoughts for company, her mind dwelt on the past. On Akuze.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw it again. She heard the screams of her squad as they were torn apart by the huge thresher maws. She felt the terror anew, and cried fresh tears for her squad-mates. But the tears were as much for herself as they were for her fellow soldiers. Nobody could know. Nobody could ever discover the terrible secret that she carried inside. If they knew that the death of her squad was on her hands, that she was responsible for their loss, that it was all her fault, they would court-martial her and toss her to the media as a pariah.

"Good morning, Eloise," said Doctor Ferry, gliding silently across the ward to stand by her bed. "How are you feeling today?"

"Fine. When can I get out of here? I want to get back to duty."

"It's not quite that easy. We have to find a new post for you... somewhere to reassign you. But before we can do that, we have to know that you're well enough to return to active duty."

"I am well enough."

"Why don't you let your doctors be the judge of that? Speaking of which, Doctor Kay wants to see you again. Are you ready for another session?"

"I already told you, I don't need counselling."

"Splendid," he said, ignoring her entirely. "Come along with me."

She had no choice but to obey him. He didn't have a rank, but he was an Alliance military doctor. In matters of medical care, even Admirals had to obey him. So she followed him down the silent, sterile white corridors, and wondered how she could convince the psychologist to release her from Arcturus.

"Hello again, Eloise," said Doctor Kay, when Ferry had shown her into the room and left the pair alone again. "I'm sorry I didn't get chance to see you yesterday, but I have quite a busy schedule."

"Fine by me, Doctor," she said, taking a seat on the sofa when it was offered to her, though she turned down the offer of a drink.

"I would like to talk about something different today," Kay smiled, and for a moment Ellie despised her bubbly, care-free personality, her shining blonde hair, her perfect smile framing polished white teeth. There was just something inherently fake about the doctor. Not something that she could put into words, but a general feeling that Kay was more intelligent than her, that the woman knew that she could get into her head.

"Alright."

"How do you feel about aliens?"

"That question is ambiguous and loaded."

"How so?"

"Because firstly, the only aliens I've met have been Batarians, and they're usually dead almost as soon as I meet them. And secondly, because you can't judge an entire race or species on the actions of a few. I feel no differently about aliens than I do about my fellow humans; there are good, and there are bad."

"Yet you take pride in your work. You take pride in killing Batarians."

"No. I take pride in saving lives, in protecting our interests. I wish I didn't have to kill to do it. I wish the Batarians would just leave us the hell alone. If wishes were horses, as they say."

"You know, there were rumours that you and Serviceman Miguel Carrero were carrying on a relationship in secret."

"I don't give a damn about rumours."

"But if true, that would have meant that you were breaking military procedure."

"I'm sure it looked that way to some people, but Miguel and I were just friends. Close friends, but just friends."

"He came with you, didn't he? From Earth. He was in the same gang as you, and when you decided to leave, to enlist, you convinced him to come with you."

"That's right. He was a good man. He never liked the killing. He wanted to get away almost as much as I did."

"Tell me about him. Tell me a story about your time in the gang together."

"Miguel was a good person. A quiet man. He never wanted to join the gang. He only did it to look after his little brother, Marco. Marco was a rebel, and Miguel wanted to keep him out of trouble. The first time Miguel fired a gun to kill someone... he cried, after, when there was nobody but me around. He hated what he was becoming. He didn't want to enjoy killing people. But he wouldn't leave. He stayed for Marco."

"What made him decide to leave with you in the end?"

"I think he realised that his little brother didn't need him around. That Marco didn't even want him around, that he saw Miguel as someone holding him back. We went on a job together... a simple robbery. I was there to hack into one of those old hole-in-the-wall style credit machines. You know the types?"

"Yes, I've seen them in some cities on Earth."

"We did it late night, to minimise the chances of us being caught. Like I said, I was there to crack the machine. Marco and Miguel were my guards, my look-outs. They were supposed to warn me if anybody was coming, so that we could get away. And someone did come. A woman. I don't know what she was doing out there so late, in the middle of gang territory. It was a bloody no-man's land out there. Nobody should have been there. Marco thought she was an under-cover security officer. Instead of signalling us to flee, he shot her. But he didn't kill her. She lay there dying, begging for help, begging to be saved. When I tried to help her... Marco pulled his gun on me. He said that even though he'd get a mouth-full from the Blood-dog's leader for killing me, he wouldn't hesitate. The woman had seen our faces. She was a witness. She couldn't be allowed to live. I knew he would have done it. I knew he would have killed me right there and then. I could see it in his eyes."

"Here," said Kay, handing her a tissue. That was then she realised tears were spilling down her cheeks. Caught up in the memory, taken back to a time when she could _see_ the anger and hatred in Marco's eyes, she had been oblivious to what her body was doing.

She wiped the tears from her eyes then blew her nose on the tissue, feeling angry with herself. The damn doctor had done it. She'd broken through and made her cry. She'd found a way inside her defences. Now she'd employ sympathy as a tool to weaken her further.

"How did it feel, to see that in a friend?" Kay asked gently.

"How do you think it felt? That's when I realised I had to get out. I don't know how Marco ended up like that. Maybe it was the drugs and the stims he was on. Maybe he got desensitised to the killing. Maybe he was always like that underneath, and being in the Blood-dogs simply brought it out. But when I looked into his eyes, I saw nothing. They were empty. Hollow. Soulless. I'd never seen that in a person before, and I haven't seen it since, not even in the eyes of the Batarians I've killed. That's when Miguel realised what his brother had become. That's when he realised he couldn't stay. It didn't take much for me to talk him into running away."

"Was it easy, to get away from your gang?"

"No. We had to time it to happen whilst most of the gang was out on a raid. I claimed I was sick, said I couldn't go. Miguel said he'd stay with me and take care of me. We had to kill two gang-members to get away, and we were terrified that we'd be followed the whole time. We didn't relax until we reached the recruitment office. As soon as we'd signed the dotted line, that's when we realised that we were finally free."

"An interesting perspective. Most people would see military life as restrictive. Constantly under orders, being told what to wear, where to go, what to do. The very opposite of freedom."

"It's never been like that for me. I'm here of my own free will. That is the true definition of freedom. I know that my orders will be beneficial to humanity... hopefully to the galaxy. If I'm not happy, I can quit at any time. On Earth, I was never anything but caged. Our here, serving, I'm always free."

"Do you feel guilty over Miguel's death?"

"Of course I feel guilty," she said hotly, feeling tears springing unbidden into her eyes. "If it wasn't for me, if I hadn't talked him into signing up, he'd still be alive. He'd be back on Earth, still in the gang, but he wouldn't have died. He wouldn't have suffered... that thresher ripped him apart. I can't get that image out of my head. How do you think it feels, to be responsible for that?"

"From what I'm told, you almost ended up the same way. You were the only member of your squad to survive... and you almost died blowing up the thresher that killed your team."

"I told you before, I'm not going back to Akuze. Stop trying to make me talk about it."

"Okay," said Kay, holding her hands up in reconciliation. "There will be time for that later. I think we'll end the session now. I'm glad to see you opening up a little. It's not healthy to bottle your emotions up. Everybody needs to talk about things from time to time... there's no shame in it. And you can tell me anything."

"But you can't promise confidentiality. Anything I say to you will go on my file."

"No, not everything. Only a general overview of your progress."

"I don't care. I don't trust you, and I never will. You'll have to keep me here forever, because I'm never going to talk to you about Akuze."

"We'll see," Kay smiled.

_Day Twelve_

"I don't think it's in your best interest to return to active duty," said Doctor Kay solemnly. Eloise felt her whole world come tumbling down. This couldn't be happening! The military was her life. If she couldn't serve, she had... nothing. She _was_ nothing. She couldn't just go back to being a civilian. Not after everything that had happened. Not after Akuze.

"You... you're keeping me here longer?" she asked, fighting for breath.

"Yes. For a good couple of years, in fact."

"_Years?_"

"That's right. I put the paperwork through two days ago, and it's just been authorised. You're now officially enrolled onto the N7 Marine training program."

"What... me? Training as a marine?"

"That's right. As you know, we accept only the best, and I think you'll benefit from the training. It will be intensive, of course, and a challenge to you. After training, you'll be eligible for almost any mission, any posting. And the program will benefit from having you on it. What do you say?"

"I... I accept," she said, completely stunned. This was the last thing she had expected.

"I'm glad. We can also work together in further sessions during your stay here. You still have a lot of emotional baggage that I want to help you work through. But there's no need to hurry. Now, I'll have a change of clothes sent to your bed on the recovery ward, then I'll come along and show you to General Thomson's office. He'll be overseeing your training. Good luck, Serviceman Shepard; I'm sure you'll do us all proud."

Her mind numb, she walked on auto-pilot to the door, then stopped beside it.

"Doctor, I met one of the trainee marines in the recovery ward a week or so ago. Kaidan Alenko. Do you know how he got on with his Evals?"

"Yes, he passed with flying colours and has been assigned to his new unit," Kay smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it. I'll go and get changed now. And... thank you. For giving me this opportunity."

"You're welcome. Dismissed, Serviceman. Go and get changed out of those medical slacks... they really don't do a person justice."

Ellie closed the door behind her as she left, and walked back to the recovery ward. She knew the way, by now, and no longer required an orderly to escort her.

Her mind was buzzing as she dressed in the N7 trainee uniform that had been left on her gurney. In a way, she felt like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. This was a new chance for her. For five years she had served in the military, and never thought that she would be anything other than an engineer. Now, she was being given a new chance. Perhaps, with the training that she would receive here at Arcturus, she could even make up for her mistakes on Akuze.


	2. Promotion

Deus Ex Machina

_2. Promotion_

The sun shone brightly down on Sidon, obscured at times by thick plumes of black smoke that rose steadily from the ground. It shone down on the partial ruins of a hundred-year old mercenary bunker, designed to last only half that time. The ruins had been fortified in places by piles of rubble and sacks of sand meant to impede gunfire. More sophisticated fortifications were also in play; barriers and shields designed to slow humans and projectiles alike.

There was rain from the cloudless sky, a rain of bullets and laser beams that landed harmlessly on rubble and bare ground. The twenty-strong human invasion force were heartened. Every wasted bullet, every drained laser power cell, meant that the odds of them being hit decreased significantly, which in turn increased their chances of their mission ending in success.

Four squads of soldiers would not have been considered by most to be substantial enough for an attack of this size. But what the Krogans had in sheer strength, what the Turians had in numbers, what the Asari had in expertise and the Salarians in accurate intel, humans made up for in ingenuity and adaptability. And these were no ordinary soldiers; they were marines, the best of the best, hand-picked from the Alliance military and put through the rigorous N7 training program, the initials denoting not only the program's vocational code, but also expressing in the minds of civilians what humanity had come to represent; dedication, valour, and a stubborn determination to complete the mission no matter the cost.

"Tech!" shouted the marine commander, Major Jay Nevin.

Almost without thinking, Staff Lieutenant Eloise Shepard activated her omni-tool, powering it up and inputting the parameters of the effect she wanted to induce; a massive overload of the enemy's shields. Crouched behind other piles of rubble and metal debris, other Engineers were doing the same, preparing to electronically sabotage weapons and dampen enemy tech defences. When they were done, they all signalled that they were ready.

"Activate!" Nevin ordered.

There were explosions from the other side of the ruined bunker; weapons overloading, malfunctioning, jamming. Hacked computers refused to comply. Shields dropped all around the base.

"Cover fire!"

Sixteen marines moved subtly, leaning around and above their cover to fire at the enemy soldiers desperately trying to regain control of their weapons. Eloise's own pistol fired with rapid precision and accuracy; she hit three of the enemy in their limbs and body, and counted at least one head-shot.

"Grenades!"

The reason for the cover-fire now moved, with the remaining four marines, one from each squad, hoisting grenade launchers onto their shoulders, firing the heavy weapons at their confused opponents.

The loud explosions were muted somewhat by the helmet that Eloise wore. It was the latest in intelli-design, which was a fancy way of saying that the helmet's tiny CPU was capable of amplifying small sounds into a more audible range, and muting loud sounds that might cause damage to a soldier's hearing.

The barrage of explosions stopped, and she reloaded her pistol. She knew what was coming next. The Batarians always fought this way, engaging attackers outside, then falling back to a more secure location, effectively digging themselves in with whatever weaponry they had left. Only this time, there would be nowhere for them to fall back to. This was their last strong-hold in the system. Their last bunker. Once this was over, there would be no more Batarians in this sector. And if the Alliance continued to patrol it, the Batarians would be kept out forever.

"Shepard, Alenko. You've been asked to RTB. Get moving. The rest of you, with me." Nevin's voice in her ear was crisp and clear over the short-range radio.

"Wait, what? Who's recalled us?" Eloise asked, tapping the external communication button on her helmet to open a channel to her superior officer.

"Admiral Parsons. Orders are orders. You better jump if you don't wanna face a court-martial when you get there. Everyone else... move out. Secure the area, engage with lethal force."

The rest of the marines moved out, leaving Eloise alone with Kaidan. Together they retreated, setting off back to 'base' - a large troop-transport ship that had been landed on the planet to form a secure fall-back point for marines. It was guarded closely from space by the SSV Cairo, but only the marines stood between the Batarians and the transport.

When they were a safe distance away from the battlefield, Eloise unclipped her helmet fastener, pulling it from her head. Immediately the colours of the world around her changed, no longer influenced by the tinted visor. She gulped in fresh air and let the breeze dry the sweat that clung to her forehead and cheeks. Though she hated wearing the full breathing apparatus, the Batarians had recently fallen to partaking in chemical warfare. Two marine units had already been lost to the chemicals that would damage only human lungs.

"I wonder what the Admiral wants," Kaidan mused, removing his own helmet to reveal a similarly sweaty face.

"He better have a damn good reason for pulling us out just as we were about to advance. I've a good mind to ask him what he's bloody playing at, and damn the consequences."

"No you won't. You'll fume for a bit on the inside, then you'll wait for a quiet moment and politely ask the Admiral if he has any concerns."

"Yeah. But I _wish_ I could ask him what he's bloody playing at."

"Relax, little sis. You know he'll have a good reason for it. And there's always more Batarians waiting around the corner. Maybe he even wants us to head up the force to protect our colonies on the edge of the Terminus Systems. How great would that be?"

"Great, but highly improbably. Lieutenants don't lead task forces. I bet he ordered us to return to base for some really stupid reason. He probably lost a shoe and wants us to help him find it. Or maybe another marble."

"Come on, Shepard, he's not _that_ senile. But I hear this is his last mission before retirement, so go easy on him."

They stepped into the shadow of the troop-transport vessel and the air temperature immediately cooled. The door of the transport opened automatically for them, detecting approaching human life-signs. Compared to the bright, open-aired sunlight outside, the inside of the transport was dark and gloomy, the temperature almost twenty degrees cooler. The rapid cooling was both a blessing and a curse, and Eloise wished desperately for a cool shower as sweat clung stubbornly to her body, refusing to evaporate further now that she was out of the sun.

The admiral's assistant met them inside the decon airlock and escorted them down long-familiar corridors. There was technically no reason for the escort; the transport had been home to the marines during their six month campaign in the Skyllian Verge, and they knew their way around it blindfolded. That the admiral had sent his quiet young assistant to usher them to the Briefing Room was an indication of something unusual happening. The thought of the admiral falling terminally ill crossed Eloise's mind. The man _was_ a hundred and eight years old, after all. Not even recent advancements in medical anti-ageing processes could hold a failing body together forever.

When the marines had left base, earlier that morning, the transport had been running in low-power mode. Most of the lights were dimmed, the engines switched off, and all non-essential systems, such as life-support, deactivated to preserve power. It was a surprise when, after several corridors of low-intensity red emergency lighting, they stepped into a corridor that was fully lit. All of the corridors leading to the Briefing Room were lit, and the air conditioning had been reactivated in the area. Kaidan shared her questioning glance. It wasn't at all like the admiral to give in to the need for extra comforts. Or even basic comforts, really. An old man he might be, but at times it seemed he was made of wood or iron.

From the time it had taken to withdraw from the battle and reach the Briefing Room, Eloise's anger at being withdrawn from the final push had waned greatly. Now she was curious, her thoughts defensive though her body showed nothing of her caution. Why had the admiral pulled them out of conflict? Why was Yeoman Naiya escorting them here? Why were the lights and the AC on? And most of all, how could she get out of whatever bad thing was about to happen to her?

When the door opened, she found Admiral Parsons in quiet discussion with a tall, blonde-haired woman. A woman who wore casual black and grey clothes, and carried a data-pad tucked beneath her arm. Both turned to face her when she and Kaidan saluted.

"At ease, marines. Thank you for getting back so hastily," said Parsons, his voice still strong and gravelly despite his advanced years. "I know you have questions, but I'm afraid answers won't be immediately forthcoming. Lieutenant Alenko, return to your squad's room, change out of your combat armour and pack your gear. You've been reassigned."

Eloise felt her heart pumping in her chest as the admiral spoke. It was unusual for a marine to be reassigned away from a fully functioning unit. Every member of a unit was hand-picked so that each member's skills complemented the others'. And as unusual as it was for a soldier to be reassigned, being reassigned whilst in the middle of an offensive strike was practically unheard of. Whatever was going down, it was big. Bigger than the admiral. Bigger than pushing the Batarians out of the system.

Kaidan had no choice but to salute and obey. Naiya followed him out, obviously under previous instructions to assist him. That left Eloise alone with Parsons and the woman, the latter of whom merely watched her thoughtfully.

"I believe you're already acquainted with Doctor Kay," said the admiral. "The doctor would like to ask you some questions, Shepard. I'd like you to answer them fully and to the best of your ability."

"Yes, Sir," she said with another salute.

"Good. I'll leave the two of you alone to catch up."

Parsons left. Though his legs were stiff with arthritis, he still moved with the confidence of a life-long soldier. And as the Admiral left, the doctor took a seat behind the square briefing table. Still standing casually to attention, Eloise knew that something wasn't quite right. It was an instinct, something she couldn't put into words, nothing tangible that she could grasp, but she knew that nothing was as it seemed. Her eyes were inexplicably drawn upwards to the glass of the observation window. It worked like a two-way mirror, allowing anybody behind the glass to see into the Briefing Room, but without letting anyone in the room see through the window. For a moment she focused all of her attention on the window, wishing she could pierce it with her vision, to see who was behind it, watching.

"How have you been, Lieutenant?" the doctor asked. Eloise's gaze snapped back to the woman as if she had been chastised for not having her eyes forward. It had been four years since she'd seen Doctor Kay, and the woman hadn't changed a bit. Sleek blonde hair, faux-smile, pearly white teeth, without the sheen of sweat that covered her own face.

"Well, thank you."

"You've been in the Skyllian Verge for six months now. How is your mission going?"

"Our mission is currently on target. We expect to have neutralised the Batarian presence in the system by the end of the day."

"Hmm. 'Neutralised'. I find military jargon fascinating... so cold, so clinical. Do you think that it's for the benefit of the soldiers, or the civilians?"

"Have you extracted me from battle to discuss etymology, Doctor?"

"Humour me," the woman smiled.

"I believe it's for the benefit of everybody. Commanders can give the order to 'neutralise' instead of 'kill', and live with their consciences a little easier. Soldiers carrying out the orders know that 'neutralise' is not necessarily synonymous with killing, allowing them the option of using disabling force. Civilians don't want to hear about aliens being killed. It's easier to hear 'the threat has been neutralised' than 'the aliens have been killed'."

"How do you feel about aliens now?"

"That question's as loaded now as it was the last time you asked me. To borrow an ancient colloquialism, there are bad eggs in every basket. I can tell you what the text books say about any alien race you care to ramble off, but I can't give you my own opinion of any alien race in general, because I don't have one. And I never will. All I will ever have is opinions of individuals."

"In discussions between yourself and others, both military personnel and civilians, you have often been quite vocal in your support of the Alliance. Since you are a soldier, this is quite understandable. But you've also been a proponent of humanity taking a greater role on the galactic stage. Many of your colleagues would disagree. Many are in the military to protect human interests."

"That's not a question."

"What are your thoughts on the matter?"

"We're all protecting human interests in our own way. I believe it's not in our best interest to isolate ourselves. I believe that we can't stand alone. Nature doesn't like one species coming out on top and overwhelming all others. It takes measures to prevent that from happening, and I don't want us to end up like the Krogan."

"Do you have any thoughts on the Council?"

"No, I've never met them. But I don't really care for politics. That's why I'm in the military. Other people can argue until they're blue in the face... I prefer direct action."

"What do you think of-"

"No offence, Doctor, but I'd like to know what's going on here. You've pulled us out of an important engagement, reassigned Kaidan, asked me all of these seemingly random questions... You've obviously been sent to assess me, but I think I deserve to know why."

The woman merely watched her for a moment, then reached up to activate her communication ear-piece, her eyes sharp and alert as she listened to somebody's voice. Then Kay nodded and stood, and the door behind Eloise opened. She turned, saluting the man who now entered the room. Though she had never met him before in her life, she knew his face; every candidate who had attended the N7 training facility knew his face, had read about his life, his career. David Anderson was one of the first to graduate from N7, and his career, spanning decades, was garnished with medals of honour and bravery. Even if she hadn't recognised him, his rank of Captain would have been enough to warrant the salute.

"At ease, Shepard," said the man. "I'm Captain Anderson, and I've been following your career closely for the past few years."

"Thank you, Captain. It's an honour to meet you."

"I trust you've seen enough, Captain?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, thank you. Please return to the admiral. I'd like to talk to the lieutenant in private."

"Aye, Sir. It was good to see you again, Shepard. I'm glad to see you've settled down well since completing your training. Keep up the good work."

When the doctor had gone, Captain Anderson gestured at a nearby chair, inviting her to sit.

"Thank you, but I prefer to stand, Sir."

"Good. I'm not a big fan of sitting, myself. One of the reasons I never wanted to become a pilot. I'll be frank with you, Shepard, because I know you appreciate straight-forward explanations."

"Sir."

"The reason you've been pulled out of combat is because I'm assembling a crew for a new ship I've been given command of. Her name's the Normandy, and I've been given permission to hand-pick every member of the crew myself. I've already got everybody else in place... pilot, doctor, engineers... but I have a couple of places left for marines. I've asked for Lieutenant Alenko to join one of the squads resident on Normandy."

"Lieutenant Alenko, but not me, Sir?"

"No. I'm still in need of an Executive Officer. To that effect you've been promoted to Commander Shepard, XO of the Normandy. She's in orbit at the moment... we'll be taking a shuttle back up to her once you and Alenko are ready to go."

"I don't know what to say, Sir. I'm... honoured to be chosen. I know there are much more experienced officers than me. And much more deserving, too."

"Your record speaks for itself, Commander. Following a devastating thresher attack on Akuze, of which you were the sole survivor, you spent two years undergoing rigorous training at Arcturus, before spending a four-year tour of duty with your squad defending our colonies in the Verge, the Terminus Systems and the Attican Traverse. In that time you've participated in over a hundred engagements. When you were temporarily suspended from duty owing to a combat injury, you spent your time performing administrative tasks in the personnel department. I can't think of anyone else I'd like as my first officer."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Give it a few days. When you see the amount of paperwork that comes with the job, you might retract your thanks. Now, we're on a tight schedule. Get washed and changed and get your gear together. We have a shuttle behind the transport and we'll be departing in an hour."

"'We', Sir?"

"That's something I'll explain later, when you're ready to go.

o - o - o - o - o

"I can't believe it," said Kaidan. He was sitting on his bunk in the room that their squad shared, packing his trunk for transport. "You've been promoted above me! It's going to be strange calling you 'Commander' all the time."

"Only in company, Kaid," she called from the shower. After the heat and sweat and the shock of sudden promotion, the shower was comforting and relaxing.

"I wonder what the Normandy's like. They must have been keeping it top secret... I haven't even heard the name before."

"We'll find out soon enough."

She stepped out of the shower and dried herself with her towel before dressing in basic casual military clothing. It was professional but comfortable, a world apart from the rigid, protective combat gear.

Space was at a premium on ships, and since squads were expected to die together, they were expected to live, eat, sleep, shower and dress together. There were no private rooms, no preferential treatment regardless of gender, but it didn't bother Eloise. If you wanted luxury, you didn't sign up for the military. If you wanted your own room, you didn't serve on an Alliance Ship. And once you'd seen a person hot, sweaty, covered in mud, blood and gore, you tended not to mind seeing them naked. Sex and nudity were quickly dissociated from each other in the military.

She gave her long brown hair a quick comb, tying it up and behind her head in a regulation bun. Then she packed her gear and personal items into a crate, trying to ignore the other neatly made beds around her. She wouldn't get chance to say goodbye to the rest of her team. She wouldn't have chance to say farewell to the people who had been like her family for the past four years of her life. She had never had a family, until she joined the unit of men who all called her 'little sister', and thought of her as the same. Still, at least Kaidan was going with her. She wouldn't be alone.

Together they walked the dim corridors of their temporary home one last time, each silent, wrapped up in their own thoughts. Admiral Parsons had already given her her new rank pins, and these were already fastened to the collar of her clean navy-blue shirt. But whilst she was happy about her promotion, she raged against the way in which it was done. Squads shouldn't be broken up like this. They should have the chance to say goodbye.

After the dark, cool interior of the ship, the sunlight was glaringly harsh, the sun directly overhead. Temperatures soared during the day to as high as 330K, which made fighting in combat gear a nightmarish experience. Squinting in the bright light, Ellie wished she hadn't packed her sun visor away in her trunk, which was following behind her, strapped to an anti-grav unit.

The shuttle was easy to find; it had been landed directly behind the transport, as far away from the Batarians as possible. What was surprising was that the shuttle belonged to the transport - it was clearly marked to identify it. But why hadn't the captain come planet-side in the Normandy's shuttle? Didn't it have one?

As she had expected, the captain was waiting patiently beside the shuttle. The second figure, standing beside him, was not entirely unexpected - Anderson _had_ referred to 'we', after all - but surprising in other ways. As she and Kaidan approached the shuttle, she looked at the man beside the captain. She knew she was staring, but she couldn't help it. She had never seen a Turian before.

She had seen pictures and digital recordings of them, of course, but pictures never did anybody justice. The Turian was tall, taller than Kaidan and Anderson both, and slender, giving the impression of speed and wiry strength. Though bipedal, Turian physiology was quite different to that of Humans. For a start, Turians had only two fingers and a thumb, and though this man's hands were gloved, she knew that each finger, like each toe, ended in a sharp talon. Beneath his armour, she could see that his neck was pale brownish-grey, but his head was black, except for intricate white facial markings, and looked as if it was covered with a mask that swept back over his skull. His eyes were small, especially compared to the quadruple eyes of the Batarians she had recently been fighting, and they glinted with a canny intelligence she had never encountered in another sentient race before.

"Commander Shepard, this is Nihlus. He's a Spectre, and he'll be travelling with us on our shakedown cruise as an observer."

"Congratulations on your recent promotion, Commander Shepard. Captain Anderson has told me a lot about you. I look forward to working with you," said Nihlus. There was a strange, echoing quality to his voice. Not unpleasant, but definitely different.

"This shakedown requires a Spectre onboard? Isn't that overkill?" she asked.

"Nihlus is here to look out for Turian interests. The Normandy is a joint venture between our people, using technology from both. She's a prototype frigate-class, smaller than a dreadnought, but faster and more manoeuvrable. She also has some... revolutionary systems. I'll debrief you and give you the grand tour once we're onboard."

"Doesn't the Normandy have her own shuttle, Captain?" she asked as the pilot stowed their trunks in the hold. Then she stepped into the shade of the small vehicle, taking a seat and buckling herself in, followed by Kaidan, then Anderson and Nihlus.

"No. She doesn't need one. She's small enough to land and take off... only just. Any bigger, and we'd need a shuttle for her. As it is, she's equipped with a Mako, an ATV with descent thrusters that can be dropped safely from low orbit. It's a bumpy ride, but faster than travelling on foot."

"I've never worked with Turian tech before. How different is Normandy to standard Alliance ships?"

"The ship design and some of the construction is Turian" said Nihlus. "The controls are all in-line with current human technology, and the crew is human, too. The engine and the stealth technology implements both Turian and Human technology."

"Stealth tech?" asked Kaidan. Ellie smiled. When it came to new technology, he was almost as child-like and curious as her.

"That's something I'll be briefing you on once we're aboard," said the Captain.

"If this ship is of human construction and manned by a human crew, why did the Turians help design parts of it? What do they get out of it?" she asked.

"It's part of a good-will gesture, an attempt at reconciliation after the First Contact War."

"That's the official line," said Nihlus. "I don't expect you to believe it. In truth, the Alliance, along with the Council, footed most of the bill, and they'll be putting their own people on the line to test the ship. If it tears itself apart during shakedown, we won't have lost people or money. If the technology turns out to be viable, it can be developed further, either as a joint venture, or by the Turian Hierarchy alone."

"If the ship tears itself apart, _you'll_ be on it, though."

"I am a Spectre. I am no stranger to dangerous missions."

"We don't expect any problems, though," said Anderson hastily. "We got her here from Arcturus in one piece and without any problems. We only stayed in orbit because we didn't want to interfere with the mission on the surface."

Eloise mulled over everything she had learnt as the shuttle began its ascent through the atmosphere. It shook as it passed through the various layers of hot and cool air, and then became smooth once they reached the freezing, airless expanse of space. The only light came from their shuttle and the tiny stars strewn across the black sky, billions of bright, precious diamonds glinting and winking as they lived and died, sparkling like water on raindrops.

Looking out of the port window, she saw a ship hovering in space next to the Cairo, that was protecting the troop transport from possible pirate attack. Words were painted across the hull of the frigate; 'SSV Normandy', and the designation 'SR1'. It was a long, sleek, beautiful white-grey ship, with black detail along the hull, and it immediately stood out as alien to her. It looked fast and strong, like it was designed to chase and kill; it reminded her of Nihlus.

"Impressive," said Kaidan with an appreciative whistle.

"Wait until you see her moving at sub-light," said Captain Anderson. "She's faster than anything in the Fleet."

There was silence as they docked at the ship's airlock; she and Kaidan drank in the sight of the Normandy, already familiarising themselves with her design and appearance. What the Captain and Nihlus were thinking she did not know, and she did not ask. She merely let her eyes absorb the sight of the ship, and when the airlock door finally opened, and the pilot began to unpack their luggage, she followed Anderson out into the corridor, inhaling deeply.

"New ship smell," she said with a sigh. "I wish they could bottle it up and sell it as a perfume."

"Yeah, I'm sure that would attract all the other ships," said Kaidan.

"Lieutenant Alenko, Nihlus will show you to your room, whilst I give the Commander a run-down of the ship and her systems."

Kaidan saluted, then followed Nihlus down the corridor. Eloise watched them go. It was almost eerie how alike they were... and how different. Forty years ago, humans had been the only sentient bipeds in the galaxy, at least according to their own beliefs. Now there were many other species and races, some similar to humans, some vastly different. Humans, Turians, Salarians, Asari, Krogan, Hanar, Vorcha, Batarians... they were all built to the same basic template, and she wondered how the rest would compare in person to her own race.

"As you might have guessed," said Anderson, "this is the Normandy's main docking port. I'll show you around, explain the systems, and give you an overview of your main duties. They'll be light at first, until we find our feet and settle the ship, but you won't lack for things to do, I can promise you."

"I'd like to hear about the stealth system."

"I thought you would. Basically, the Normandy can store her heat inside the hull for a finite period of time. Because she gives off little or no thermal emissions, she's almost impossible to detect when running silent. She becomes invisible to enemy sensor detection... but she can still be seen. It doesn't make her invisible to visual detection. We could be sitting right beside another ship, and they wouldn't see us unless they looked out of a window."

"Heat storage can be a dangerous thing."

"Yes, which is why the Normandy needs to earth itself periodically, to release this excess heat onto a planet's surface. Otherwise we'd be cooked alive."

"How is the heat stored?"

"In lithium sinks built into the hull. It means we can run silent for two or three hours, or drift undetected for days at a time."

The Captain took her to every deck, letting her inspect the systems and ask questions. She knew that she was probably asking more than any other XO might, but she genuinely loved tech, especially new tech. She wanted to learn as much as possible about the ship. Her knowledge would never rival that of a true engineer, but that didn't mean she had to live in ignorance.

She found the most impressive aspects of the ship to be the stealth system and the new Mass Effect drive, which allowed the Normandy to travel faster both at sub-light and FTL speeds. The command centre was different than that of any other Alliance ship's command centre - the Captain's station was elevated above others in the room, and situated further back, rather than in the centre of the room. It was a Turian implementation, Anderson informed her, that would be trialled on the Normandy and incorporated into new ships if successful.

They concluded their tour in the Briefing Room, taking seats at the long, oval table that gave preference to no particular chair. Her mind felt as if it was throbbing with new information. What she really wanted was to have something to eat and lie down, to let her body catch up with her mind. But she knew that she had to start as she meant to continue.

"I'd like to speak to the crew, informal individual meetings," she said, tapping the pad that Anderson had given her halfway through their tour.

"The whole crew?"

"Yes. I'll start with the doctor. Then the pilot. Once I'm done with the pilot, I can interview the rest as he takes us to the Mass Relay station. What's our destination, by the way?"

"Eden Prime. Are you familiar with it?"

"One of our oldest and most prosperous colonies," she said, recalling information that she hadn't read since leaving Arcturus.

"That's right. It's nice and quiet... a good place to start a shake-down. I'll tell Doctor Chakwas to come along momentarily."

"Thank you, Captain. What does the doctor like to drink, by the way?"

"Serrice Ice brandy... but don't tell her that I told you. On-duty, tea is fine."

"Will you ask one of the kitchen staff to bring along a pot of tea and two cups?"

"Of course. Take as long as you'd like with your meetings. I'll radio you when we're en route to Eden Prime."

Anderson left, and Eloise turned her attention to the pad. According to Alliance records, Doctor Chakwas was a highly experienced individual, and had even studied alien biology. When she cross-referenced the doctor's records with those of Anderson, she found that they'd served on several missions together. That was comforting. A crew that was at least somewhat familiar with each other always worked better than if they were total strangers.

One of the kitchen staff arrived, placing a tray with a metal pot of tea on the table, and a few minutes later Doctor Chakwas herself appeared. She looked much younger than she actually was; her face was mostly unlined, even though her hair was dark grey. No doubt the woman had already undergone the life-extending treatment developed by medical companies since the discovery of Prothean ruins on Mars. Dressed in the standard uniform of the ship, she looked the epitome of professional decorum.

"Thank you for coming, Doctor," said Eloise, gesturing to the tea pot. "Would you like something to drink? This is simply an informal chat... no need to stand on formality just yet."

"Thank you, Commander, I'd be delighted."

She waited until the doctor had poured herself a cup of the liquid and settled herself into a chair, then flicked her fingers across the pad, browsing crew records at random.

"I believe you've worked with Captain Anderson before?"

"Yes, on several missions. He's a good man. He knows when to let things slide and when to crack the whip. Leadership falls naturally to him, and he rarely shows anger or fear. I wish we had a hundred on him, one on every ship, even."

"Are there any health concerns amongst the crew?"

"A couple, though I suspect you already know about them. Lieutenant Alenko suffers from migraines because of his L2 biotic implant. I can stem the pain, somewhat, but it will always be there. Other than that, Joker... Jeff Moreau, suffers from Vrolick's Syndrome. This makes the bones in his body brittle, and he can't walk without the aid of leg braces and crutches. He doesn't like special treatment, though, so just treat him as any other member of the crew."

"I'll keep that in mind. Do you expect to have much work whilst we're on the shakedown?"

"I hope not. I love my job, but I don't like to see our people in pain. Until I have something to do, I'll just continue my research projects."

"Oh? What are you researching at the moment?" she asked, leaning back and taking a sip of her own tea.

"I... would prefer not to reveal too much information at present," said Chakwas, before continuing with extreme hesitation. "It's still in a very rough stage at the moment. I'm doing experimental research on Human, Asari and Turian genetics."

"To what end?"

"To make them more compatible with each other."

"Isn't that somewhat illegal?" she asked, leaning forward and fixing the doctor with her best intense stare. "I thought that genetic manipulation, except for correction of disease or enhancement of qualities already present, was against the law. Correct me if I'm wrong, of course."

"No, you're quite right. But I don't intend to genetically modify Humans... or any other race, for that matter. I'm merely studying the genetics to develop different treatments."

"Different treatments?"

"The Asari are a remarkable species, Commander. They propagate their race in a way that no other does. They bridge the gaps between all other species, and their genetic make-up is incredibly adaptive."

"So you want to build bridges?"

"Yes, I suppose that's one way of putting it. I never thought I'd have something in common with politicians."

"Do you have any peers helping you with this project?"

"No. As I said, it's experimental, not far beyond the theoretical stage. And to be honest, I work better alone, without distraction."

"Alright. I'll let the matter drop. But I'd like you to keep me informed of your progress... as much as you will allow, anyway."

"I didn't know you had an interest in medical science, Commander," Chakwas smiled.

"I have an interest in everything. Jack of all trades, master of none."

"Very well. As soon as I have something solid, you'll be the first to know."

"Thank you. I won't keep you from your duties... I'm sure you're eager to get back to the medbay."

"For what it's worth, Commander, I think you'll do a good job here. And thank you for the tea."

When the doctor had left, Eloise flicked to the next profile in the crew manifest. Then she tapped the communications button on the table in front of her.

"Kitchen staff, please would you bring coffee to the briefing room, and take away the tea." The man on the other side of the com panel acknowledged her request, then signed off. She waited until one of the staff had carried out her orders, then tapped the button again. "Joker, this is Commander Shepard. Please would you come to the briefing room for a short meeting?"

"Aye aye, Sir," came the confident, chirpy voice from the other end of the com.

As Eloise waited, she read through the pilot's record. He'd graduated as top of his class from the Arcturus flight school. He'd gotten a reputation for being serious and hard-working, and his instructors had described him as cool and often aloof. He knew the strength of his abilities and wasn't afraid to toot his own proverbial horn.

When the door swished open and revealed the pilot, struggling to walk with his crutches, she understood the full extent and nature of his condition. But he didn't complain as he took a seat opposite her, pouring coffee for himself when she gestured to the pot.

"So, you're our new XO," he said, adjusting the angle of the cap on his head.

"That's right. This is my first command-level position, so anything you can do to facilitate an easy introduction... for example, not rolling the ship just before an FTL jump, not crashing us into a star, etc... would be greatly appreciated."

"Don't worry, Commander. I'm the best pilot in the whole Fleet. I never crash."

"The best, huh? Has that been scientifically proven, or is it simply wild speculation?"

"I'm here, aren't I? That should be all the proof that you need. Captain Anderson has assembled the best team in the Alliance."

"How did you get the nickname 'Joker'?"

"One of my tutors at flight school gave it to me... she said I never smiled. I think she felt sorry for me, like she had to cheer me up or something. She learnt better, eventually."

"Does your condition cause you any problems when flying the ship?"

"None. I fly with my hands, not my feet. And you won't find a better pilot anywhere. I can guarantee that."

"Good. I look forward to seeing what you can do, and I expect to be thoroughly impressed."

"Oh, you will be, Commander."

"Thank you, Joker. If the Captain's ready, will you take us to the Relay and plot a course to Eden Prime?"

"Sure thing, Commander. Better keep hold of your coffee, though; Normandy accelerates pretty fast."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Joker hobbled painfully out of the room, and Ellie felt her heart twinging in sympathy for the man. It couldn't have been easy for him, living this way. But at least he seemed to have found some measure of happiness. And he definitely had pride in his skills. Putting thoughts of the pilot aside, she flicked through the crew manifest. She had no need to speak to Kaidan; she already knew more about him than anybody else. And it worked the other way around, too. They'd worked in the same squad for almost four years, and had struck up a deep friendship. The whole point of these interviews was to get to know everyone else.

The person she wanted to speak to next was not in the crew manifest. As an observer, Nihlus wasn't a true part of the crew. He wouldn't be using any of the ship's systems, he was simply a passenger. So far, she did not have a very wide experience with aliens. The Alliance was quite cautious about letting soldiers deal with aliens. Following the First Contact War, which threw Humanity into conflict with the Turian Hierarchy, and the decade-long skirmishes with Batarians over the settlement of the Skyllian Verge, many Humans, especially soldiers, tended to be suspicious of aliens and their motives. Even worse, radical groups like Terra Firma were pushing for anti-alien agendas. Human-supremacists were rare, but they could cause trouble anywhere they went.

But she was curious about many things. As part of her training she had learnt the basics of alien cultures, especially those affiliated to the Citadel Council, but she had never had the chance to liaise with any of them. Conflict with the Batarians had taken priority over that aspect of her education. So, her mind made up, she called down to the kitchen on the com system, asked them to take away the coffee and bring fresh water, then put out a ship-wide message, since she didn't know where exactly he was, asking Nihlus to meet her in the briefing room.

It didn't take long for him to show, and he offered no pleasantries as he sat down and watched her calmly. Did anything ever phase the man? He was here, alone, amongst Humans. Did he feel at risk? Or did he simply see himself as a cat amongst the pigeons?

"I understand that you didn't undertake the usual marine training, during your stay at Arcturus," he said at last. His comment surprised her. How could he know that? And, more importantly, did he know just what training she'd had? Her training was supposed to give her an edge in dealing with both civilians and alien races. But if she lost that edge, if her 'additional' skills were known... She decided that brutal honesty was probably the best in this instance. If he knew about her and she lied, he wouldn't believe anything she said.

"That's right. A psychologist at Arcturus thought of me as her 'pet' project. She talked me into joining the N7 program, then talked my instructors into putting me through specialist training."

"I found your service record to be an interesting read. I have questions about your training... if you care to give answers."

"I suspect you already know more about me than even I do, but ask your questions anyway."

"How did your training start?"

"The usual way, at first. The psychologist who was treating me for stress after Akuze... she thought I could do more than fight and kill. She suggested that I be given only basic combat training, and concentrate my effort on other skills."

"Such as negotiation."

"That's right."

"Your background, your experiences as a child, must have prepared you well for such study."

"How much of my life to you know about?"

"Everything that is in your file. Every medical record, every caution issued to you, every accolade awarded to you."

"Then why ask about my childhood?"

"Because I wish to see it through your eyes."

"Very well, but I'm sure you'll find it boring. You're right about my experiences preparing me for my training. When I was young, living in the orphanage, I thought life was tough. Forming friendships and alliances was important. Developing skills, performing valuable services, could mean the difference between a hot meal and a beating. But it wasn't until I left the protection of the orphanage and joined the Blood-dog Gang, that I realised life wasn't just tough, it was dangerous. Survival meant living on the edge. It meant seeing an attack before it could happen. It meant being able to tell when a person was about to turn anger into violence. I learnt to spot little things, little signals, and interpret them."

"And your training at Arcturus expanded on that?"

"Yes. Very much so. Whilst most soldiers were given gene enhancement to improve their strength, speed and stamina, my senses were enhanced... vision, hearing, smell... my reflexes were also enhanced a little, more to help me stay alive if negotiations went wrong, than anything else."

"Strange, that they should train you as a negotiator, but not employ you as one."

"Things sorta went sideways after I finished my training. The Batarians were pushing heavily into the Verge, and every able soldier to be spared was needed out there. I was _supposed_ to go on a military exchange program, serving for three months on an Asari vessel, then Turian and Salarian, before meeting up with my counter-parts to spend three months discussing our findings and working together as a mixed group. The Alliance pulled out of that program, and sent me to battle instead."

"Do you regret it?"

"Yes and no. I would have liked the opportunity to develop my skills, to learn from other species. But at the same time, I worked to defend lives, to protect colonists from being taken as slaves, or simply killed by Batarian raiders. I feel the loss of knowledge keenly, but if it means I've saved a single life, it's something I give up gladly."

"Some might say that the conflict with the Batarians is of your own construction. Since crawling their way into space, Humans have been spreading rapidly across the galaxy, colonising worlds and system considered harsh and inhospitable by most. Your kind have even attempted to settle in the Terminus Systems. Perhaps the Batarian raids are simply curbing your rapid expansion. Perhaps you are trying to do too much, too quickly."

"Perhaps. What do _you_ think?"

"I think there is much potential in your species. Wherever you go, your people make ripples... sometimes waves. You also bring change with you. For almost a millennia, we have had relative peace in the galaxy. Things have been... settled. Now, things are unsettled. Your kind bring not just change, but new ideas, new innovations, new tactics."

"And an innate curiosity about the universe. That is, primarily, what drives us."

"Indeed. Your people could rival the Salarians in curiosity. But Salarian curiosity stems from a deep desire to understand, to know where everything belongs. Yours is a child-like curiosity in comparison. And sometimes, a parent must hold a child back for their own benefit."

"Is that how the Council sees us? As children to be shaped and guided?"

"I don't know how the Council sees you, nor do I care. I do their will; I don't promote their agendas. But I know that they are cautious around your people. They made the mistake, once, of advancing the Krogan prematurely, of giving them more than they were capable of handling. They won't want to make the same mistake with Humans."

"Tell me something. I know why Captain Anderson was watching me talk with the psych on the transport, down on the planet's surface. He wanted to assess me for himself, to see how I responded to questions. But why were _you_ watching me?"

"Because Captain Anderson asked me to."

"It's not standard procedure to allow people to observe a private session with a doctor or psychologist... doctor-patient confidentiality, and all that." She was pleased that he didn't try to deny that he'd been watching. She wouldn't have believed him if he'd tried it.

"Perhaps you should take it up with Captain Anderson, if it bothers you."

"It doesn't. Anyway, as the XO on this ship, I'm responsible for the crew, including observers. If you need anything, or have problems with any of the crew, let me know and I'll deal with it myself. I trust that they've taken enough food onboard for you?"

"More than enough."

"Good. I'll let you get back to... whatever it is you're really doing here. Just remember; don't disturb the Captain if you have any small concerns. Bring them in the first instance to me."

"As you wish."

She heaved a sigh of relief when he left, stalking quietly out of the room. So far he seemed to be much more amenable than Batarians, who would simply shoot first and not bother with questions. But she didn't believe that he was simply here to observe the ship on its shakedown cruise. If that was the case, he wouldn't have needed to leave it, to watch her on the planet's surface.

There was definitely something suspicious going on here. Why take the ship to a peaceful out-lying colony for its shakedown cruise? Why not run Normandy through her paces in Sol? And why send a Spectre? Turian presence on the ship was understandable, owing to the nature of the joint constructions. But a Spectre? They were elite operatives. They were the hand of the Council, and the Council itself hadn't taken any part in the design and construction of Normandy. They'd simply helped fund it.

She didn't know what was really happening, but she would keep her enhanced eyes wide open for possible clues. Perhaps she would be able to discover the reason for Nihlus' presence here. And why the Normandy was on its way to a place described by the Alliance as 'Utopia in the making'.


	3. Paradise

Deus Ex Machina

_3. Paradise_

As the ship's first officer, Ellie was entitled to a small cabin of her own, instead of having to share with the soldiers. It wasn't as spacious as the captain's room, but it was big enough for her. After four years of duty, it was a luxury. It even had a small, private shower cubicle, with running hot water that was heated by Normandy's heat-sinking technology.

Lying on her back on her bed, staring at the ceiling, she tried to quiet her throbbing head. This was one of those times when she wished the military had enhanced her memory, as well as her senses. Over the past couple of hours she had met every single member of the crew, even the kitchen staff. Now names and dates and assignments and postings were rushing around her head, banging off the inside of her skull, causing a headache that was in danger of becoming a migraine.

It was strange that, since the discovery of Prothean data concealed in ruins on Mars, humanity had extinguished all but the most complex of diseases, both hereditary and infectious. Yet despite all of their medical advances, doctors could not prevent something as simple as a headache. Headaches were simply a symptom of other problems... tiredness, stress, tension... and as such, it was hard to predict when they would crop up. All a person could do was treat the effects when they became known.

"Commander Shepard?" Captain Anderson's voice was crisp and clear over the ship's internal communications.

"Yes?" she asked, wishing she could turn the com volume down.

"We've just reached the Mass Relay, our ETA to Eden Prime is approximately thirty minutes. Please meet me in the briefing room."

"Aye, Captain."

When the com channel closed with a crackle of static, she sat up and sighed, and her head throbbed in response. When the ship reached the colony, she'd have to make a point of stopping by the med-bay to ask Doctor Chakwas to do something about this pain. It was at times like this that she understood how Kaidan felt, and she didn't envy him one bit. At least her headaches were rare; his were quite constant.

The elevator hummed quietly when she stepped inside it, descending to the central area of the ship. When she stepped out of the elevator she found the CIC, the ship's Command Information Centre, bathed in a blue light from multiple display screens showing a wealth of information to the crew who were gathered around them. It reminded her again of how alien the Normandy's design was. But, if proved successful, it would set the standard for all future Alliance ship designs. Pro-human groups like Terra Firming were probably gnashing their teeth at that.

There was no sign of Captain Anderson in the briefing room, but Nihlus was there, looking out of the room's main viewing window. He didn't greet her when he approached, but she didn't doubt he was aware of her presence.

"I've heard that Eden Prime is quite beautiful," he said, turning to face her at last.

"I wouldn't know, I've never been there."

"Still, you know of it. And it's become something of a symbol for your people, hasn't it? Proof that humanity can handle itself in space? But I wonder... how safe is it, really?"

"That almost sounded like a threat."

"Not a threat, but a observation. I have to wonder.. is humanity really ready for this?"

"Ready for what?"

"Commander, forgive me," said Captain Anderson, entering the briefing room and letting the door swish closed behind him. " I think it's time I told you exactly what's going on."

"This is more than a simple shakedown cruise," said Nihlus.

"I'd guessed as much," she replied, a feeling of dread creeping up her spine.

"We're making a covert pick-up on Eden Prime," Anderson explained. "That's why we need the Normandy and her stealth systems."

"What are we picking up?"

"A research team on Eden unearthed an old artifact... a beacon of some sorts. It's Prothean."

"Prothean! That explains all the secrecy, at least. But why are we picking it up?"

"Eden Prime doesn't have the resources to study the beacon itself. We need to bring it back to the Citadel, to a proper facility, where it can be studied."

"This find is not important for humanity alone," said Nihlus, his bright green eyes focused intently on her face. "It could affect every species in the galaxy."

"We'd better get it back to the Citadel quickly, then," she suggested.

"That isn't the only reason why Nihlus is here," Anderson continued. "He wants to see you in action, Commander. He's here to evaluate you."

"That explains why you're letting him spy on me," she said, and Anderson had the decency to look at least slightly guilty. "But... evaluate me for what?"

"We've been pushing for this for a long time, Shepard," he said. "Humanity wants a greater role with the Council. We want our voice to be heard. If they accept a Human into the ranks of their Spectres, it will show just how far our people have come."

"Not everybody could have survived what you went through on Akuze," said Nihlus. "You showed a remarkable will to live. A particularly useful talent. That was why I put your name forward as a candidate for the Spectres."

For once, Ellie found herself lost for words. Anderson had promoted her to help get her into the _Spectres?_ They wanted _her_ to work on top-secret Council missions? _Nihlus_ had put her name forward? Why? What was in it for him?

"Why?" she asked him. "You're Turian. Why would you want a Human in the Spectres?"

"I told you before, I see the potential in your species. I don't care that you're Human, Shepard, only that you can do the job. This will be the first of many missions together. I need to see your skills in action."

"I'm... grateful... for the opportunity," she replied.

"Captain, we got a problem," said Joker over the internal communications. "Incoming message from Eden Prime. You're going to want to see this, Captain."

"Put it up on the monitor in here, Joker," said Anderson.

Ellie took a step forward as images flashed across the screen. She had seen similar scenes many, many times. They showed a battlefield, and judging from the sounds of gunfire blazing across the area, the battle was still hot. A soldier appeared on the screen, and pushed whoever was holding the vid-com to the floor as explosions tore apart the ground. The sound of desperate screams tore through the air from the sound system, and she felt a chill run up her spine.

"_We're under attack! Taking heavy casualties!_" The voice was distorted, intermittent through background interference. "_Repeat, heavy casualties! We can't... need evac-... they came out of nowhere. We can't..._"

Then, the voice fell silent, and the camera panned up towards the sky. There, suspended in the near distance, was a huge thing, like a monstrous hand reaching down from the heavens. Lightning crackled around it, and the only sound was of a low, droning hum that made her feel sick. Then, the transmission ended.

"There's nothing after that, Captain," said Joker. "It's like the signal just... died."

"What the hell was that?" she asked, not expecting either of the men to be able to answer her.

"I don't know, but this mission just got more complicated," said Anderson, his face troubled. "Tell Alenko and Jenkins to suit up. You're going in."

o - o - o - o - o

The sound of her own breathing was loud inside her enclosed helmet. She crept forward, ducking down behind a large chunk of bare rock, peering out from behind it at the creatures that floated above the ground in front of her.

"They're gas-bags, Commander," said Jenkins. The young lieutenant was relaxed, but this place _was_ his home. He was familiar with the fauna here.

"Are they any danger?" she asked.

"Naw, they're harmless. Just don't shoot them. They explode. Won't hurt you, but you'll get gas-bag goo all over your armour."

At Jenkins' reassurance she broke her cover, stepping out to examine the... gas-bags... more carefully. They must have been filled with some light gas, such as helium, that gave them their buoyancy. Other than that, they were unremarkable. They simply floated around the landscape not doing much of anything. They seemed quite boring.

"What's the colony like, Jenkins?" she asked, stepping forward along the path. Jenkins followed a pace behind, calm yet alert, and Kaidan brought up the rear, visually scanning the land around them.

"It's real nice, Commander. They've been careful about expansion, so you don't get any noise or atmospheric pollution. I used to lie up on a hill not far from here, watching the stars rolling across the sky. It's peaceful."

"So why'd you leave?"

"Well, it got a little _too_ peaceful. I wanted a bit more action. That's why I became a marine."

"Shepard." Nihlus' voice crackled over the radio of her helmet, calm and completely unphased. "This place got hit hard. Keep your guard up."

"Acknowledged," she replied, then let the signal cut out.

"I hope my folks are alright," said Jenkins worriedly. "They live on the outskirts of the colony... they might have avoided whatever happened here."

"We'll check up on them after securing the Prothean beacon," she assured him. "The beacon is our primary concern. Searching for... civilians... is a secondary goal. I know it's tough, but it's the captain's orders."

"Aye, Commander. Don't worry, you can count on me to stay focused."

A little further down the hill, the path they were on opened up and turned sharply, with no way to see what was waiting for them around the bend. Quietly and slowly, Ellie crouched down behind an outcrop of rock and peered around it, scanning the horizon for hostiles. But there were only the ubiquitous gas-bags, silently floating above the ground.

She gestured to Jenkins, giving him the military hand signal for 'advance and find cover'. He nodded, and, gun at the ready, moved out towards a similar outcrop of rock on the other side of the path.

Weapons-fire screamed through the air, and she heard Jenkins cry out in pain over the radio. Her reflexes kicked in and she leaned out from her hiding place, spotting several small drones that were zipping through the air towards their position. She chose one target, fired her pistol three times, then moved onto another target, and then another. Meanwhile, Kaidan was doing likewise, firing with less precision but still managing to make most of his shots.

Each shot that she fired resulted in a metallic ringing sound, followed by a loud crash of something mechanical hitting the ground. Whenever she saw a drone turning to target her, she ducked backwards, allowing Kaidan to take his shot from his own hiding place a little further down the path. And when the drones started to turn to Kaidan, she broke her cover again and fired her pistol at them. It was a tactic they had used many times before, and was one of the simplest diversions possible. Clearly, whatever these drones were, they didn't have enough intelligence to process how they were being picked off one by one and change their tactics. That, at least, was promising.

"That's all of them, Commander," said Kaidan at last. Peering out from behind the rock, she saw that he was correct. Cautiously, prepared for another ambush, she approached one of the downed drones and nudged it with her foot. Like a scene from some cheesy old sci-fi vid, there was a shower of sparks from the drone's shot circuits, and then it lost power completely; an artificial death for an artificial life-form.

"I don't recognise the tech," she said, bending down to examine it more closely.

"Me neither. The colony doesn't have weapon drones. They must have come from that... thing. The ship, or whatever it was."

She nodded, and moved on, towards the prone body of Jenkins. She didn't need her omni-tool to tell her that he was dead. The drones' ammo had pierced his armour and his flesh, passing right through his body. Inside his helmet, his face held a frozen look of surprise and horror. It was painful to see. This was her first mission, her first command, and she had already lost a crew-man. Well, she wasn't going to lose any more! She would make sure of it.

"Ripped right through his armour," said Kaidan regretfully. "He never stood a chance."

"He died in the place he was born and raised. He can rest in peace at home... we'll come back for him once we've secured the beacon."

"Don't take it personally, Ellie," he replied, reaching out and giving her shoulder a squeeze. "This isn't your fault. Whatever we're up against, they can get through our shields without any problems. We couldn't have foreseen this."

"Tell that to Jenkins," she said, trying to keep the bitterness from her voice. No, it couldn't have been foreseen... but she should have expected the unexpected. After so long fighting the Batarians, with their uninspired, repetitive tactics, she had become complacent. She had forgotten that other species, other life-forms, had their own methods of attack. From now on, she would not be caught unaware again.

The silence was broken by the sound of gunfire in the distance. She was barely able to hear it, and suspected that if her hearing hadn't been enhanced, she wouldn't have heard it at all.

"Come on," she said to Kaidan, trusting that he would follow without question. "Nihlus might be in trouble."

Together they ran up the hill, hoping that no more enemy drones awaited them. When they crested the hill, it wasn't Nihlus that they found, but a human soldier firing a assault rifle with rapid bursts at two drones that pursued her. Before Ellie could even react, the drones exploded, ripped apart by the bullets from the rifle. They crashed to the floor, and one of them exploded.

Ellie tapped the com button on her helmet, opening up a channel to the nearby soldier.

"We're on your six, soldier. Approaching your position... don't shoot."

The woman turned, relaxing visibly when she saw them approaching. Ellie realised that the soldier was shaking... not much, but enough to betray underlying fear. She couldn't blame the woman... everything that was happening here was just messed up.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212," said the woman, saluting with her free hand.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy, and this is Lieutenant Alenko. What happened here, Williams?"

"I don't know... We were helping the scientists carry equipment away from the dig site when the Geth attacked. They came out of nowhere. I think my team... I think I'm the only one left," said the woman, pacing the ground, obviously agitated. "We tried to get off a distress signal, but it got cut off. Then we tried to double back to the dig site, but we were ambushed."

"Where are the scientists now?"

"They ran back to the dig site. They might have taken shelter there. The 232 was with them at the camp. Maybe their unit fared better than mine."

"Can you take us to the dig site, Williams?"

"Of course, Commander."

Williams gestured to the path, taking point. She showed more caution than Jenkins had; she regularly scanned the sky for drones, and didn't hesitate to use what little cover was available. Ellie kept her own senses alert, and at the same time she assessed Chief Williams, observing the young woman as she moved, watching her handle her rifle with the ease of familiarity. The fear and tension seemed to have left Williams' body, replaced with surety now that she had orders to follow once more.

"Change of plans, Shepard," said Nihlus over the radio. "There's a small space port up ahead. I want to check it out. I'll wait for you there."

"Roger that," she replied. "We're going to look at the dig site, then we'll join you at the space port."

"This is the scientists' camp," said Williams. Looking ahead, Ellie saw the path opening up into an area with several small, temporary metal bunkers set up around a central area. Some of the bunkers had been damaged, and one or two had collapsed. Scientific equipment lay strewn around on the ground, as if dropped in flight. The air was still and silent... so where had the scientists gone? Had they all evacuated to the space port?

"Looks like they took a few direct hits," she said.

"Hostiles at nine o'clock, Commander," said Kaidan, ducking down behind an abandoned vehicle. She joined him, with Williams taking cover behind a large container.

Peering over the top of the vehicle, she was met with a sickening sight. Human bodies had been impaled on tall, thick spikes, their bodies suspended a dozen feet above the ground. As she watched, several of the spikes descended, and the bodies that came with them were not even recognisable as Human. Their eyes had been replaced with cold lights, their bodies twisted and warped into dark, naked things threaded entirely with circuitry.

"My god, they're still alive," said Kaidan when one of them moved, pushing itself off the ground-level spike and standing up to look around.

Ellie activated her omni-tool and scanned the area. Her equipment registered only three human life-signs in the area... those of her, Kaidan and Williams. Of the formerly Human monstrosities in front of her... there was no indication that they were even there.

"I don't think they're Human anymore," she said sadly. Were these the scientists? Or were they colonists? She hoped to god that Jenkins' parents weren't amongst them. They didn't deserve to die like this... not so soon after their son's death. "Let's see if they're still sentient."

She stood, waiting for the monstrous things to spot her. And when they did, they ran towards her, their faces twisted and contorted, their arms out in preparation for a deadly embrace.

She brought her pistol up and shot the closest one, but it didn't go down until she'd shot it five times. Meanwhile, Kaidan and Williams were concentrating their fire on the other hostiles, picking a target and sticking with it until it fell and stayed down.

"Why... why do you think the Geth did this to our people?" asked Williams, slowly approaching one of the fallen corpses.

"I don't know. A scare-tactic, maybe. Perhaps they think we won't fire on our former people," she replied.

"The Geth haven't been seen outside the Veil in over two-hundred years," Kaidan mused. "Who knows what their motives and reasons are?"

"We have to get to the dig site quickly. I get the feeling that this place is going to be crawling with Geth very soon. Williams, lead the way."

"Yes, Commander. We're almost there. It's just down this hill."

They were silent as they moved out towards the dig sight. Ellie knew that what they had seen here was weighing heavily on both of her companions. None of them had ever seen anything like this before. Batarians killed and raided, but they didn't turn your people against you, they didn't defile the bodies and use them as weapons.

"The Geth must be going after the beacon," she said aloud. "Their appearance here, right after the beacon is found... it's too convenient."

"But how could they have known about it?" said Williams. "Only the Council knew, and a few scientists who came here to study it. But those scientists... they're all here. And none of them would consider handing this over to the Geth. You know what scientists are like... they're super-protective of once-in-a-lifetime stuff like this."

"Is that what they thought it was?"

"Yeah. I'd hear them talking about it. They were all so excited, each one with different speculations about what the beacon was. A data cache, a communications relay, a weapon... hell, even an alien version of the Bible. Here, this is the dig site."

"It's rather empty," she replied. There was a central area of stone that had clearly once served as a platform for a large object. Other than that, the other items around were digging equipment and scientific machinery.

"I... I don't understand," said Williams, turning around in a circle in confusion. "It was here this morning. They must have moved it."

"Who? The scientists, or the Geth?" said Kaidan.

"We'll head out to the space port and meet up with Nihlus. With any luck he'll have the beacon there with him," said Ellie. She couldn't let her fellow soldiers begin to speculate and doubt. To a soldier, fear of the unknown was the greatest fear they would ever encounter, and she had to let them see that she was confident and calm... even if she _was_ feeling apprehensive about the mission.

They walked the well-used path with Williams leading the way. The sun, hanging above the horizon, bathed the land in a deep red glow, long shadows stretching out from the trees and the hills around them. The air was still and quiet, with only the occasional hum of nearby insects zipping through the air.

"Red sky at night," she mused aloud. "That's a good omen, on Earth at least. I wonder if it holds true here, too."

"The sun's usually like this on Eden, Commander," said Williams. "Something to do with the angle of incidence, or something. That's what one of the scientists said, anyway. It's why the trees are greener than Earth trees."

There was a raucous cry from the trees above, and Ellie drew her pistol, aiming it high into the tree. The other two followed her lead, but when they saw a small group of birds chattering noisily, Williams relaxed.

"They're a type of parrot," the woman explained, obviously feeling foolish for having jumped to quickly to action for the sake of mere birds. "Some of the scientists here were studying them."

"Great," she said drily. "Gas-bags and parrots. Anything else we need to know about?"

"Only a type of large dragon-fly the size of a shuttle, but they live mostly in the southern hemisphere of the planet."

"A shuttle? You're kidding me, right?"

"'Fraid not, Commander. Don't worry, we don't get them out here. Look, can you see down there? That's the space port."

Ellie stepped up beside Williams and looked down at the small port in the near distance. Like the camp, this place was deathly quiet. Not even the breeze stirred. It was as if all life had been extinguished.

There was movement from below, and she pushed Willams aside, diving for cover behind the trunk of a tree as she pulled her pistol and aimed down at the Geth warrior that was firing up at her. Two more Geth appeared, and Kaidan and Williams moved into action. Even in the heat of combat, she found herself impressed with Williams' skill. The young woman was capable and accurate. She seemed to know how to get the job done. Once the beacon was secured, Ashley might even make a good replacement for Jenkins... as long as the captain agreed.

Bullets glanced off the armoured bodies of the Geth, but each one did damage, and eventually the Geth fell. They hadn't stood much of a chance; they had the low ground, whereas her team had the high ground. When the last Geth fell, she moved out of her cover, stalking cautiously towards the port.

Suddenly, there was a deafening noise, like thunder in the distance. A massive ship was rising from the planet's surface, taking off into space. It must have been at least a kilometer away, and yet it was still the biggest thing that she had ever seen before in her life.

"What the hell..." Ashley began, then simply couldn't finish her sentence. She stared open-mouthed at the mobile behemoth.

"I don't care what my eyes are telling me," said Kaidan, fear in his voice. "I _know_ that what I'm seeing isn't possible. Nothing that big can take off from a planet's surface. It's bigger than a dreadnought... it's impossible. No way this is real."

"Normandy," said Ellie, tapping the com button on her helmet. "We have a ship out-bound, might be heading your way. It's the same ship we saw in the transmission. I recommend you do not engage, repeat, do not engage."

"Acknowledged, Commander," said Captain Anderson. "We're currently on silent-running and will remain hidden until the ship has left orbit. What about the beacon? Have you found it, yet?"

"Negative, Captain. We're about to meet up with Nihlus at the space port. Hopefully he'll have it there with him. I'll keep you informed. Shepard out."

With the ship out of sight, and most likely on its way out of the system, she set off down the path to the port. Unless the Geth had left a substantial force on the planet, her team would most likely encounter only light resistance, now. And hopefully Nihlus would know where the beacon was being kept. The sooner the Normandy was en route to the Citadel, the better.

As she walked through the port, her eyes took in the fine details, the minutiae that wasn't as obvious to Kaidan and Williams. She could see the fine writing on crates at twice the normal distance. On the ground, individual blades of grass stood out boldly from each other. Had it been night time, she could have seen adequately in anything except total darkness.

So focused was she on detecting movement, that at first she glanced over the body lying in the middle of the port's landing platform. Then her head came back to it, and she hurried forward.

On the ground, as if tossed aside like a rag-doll, lay Nihlus. She quickly activated her omni-tool, then scanned his body. Though he was Turian, she knew that the software would still detect and display his life-signs. But it was silent. There was no heartbeat.

"Shit," she swore, crouching down beside his body.

"The Council really won't like this," said Kaidan sadly.

"Forget the Council. Something isn't right here."

"What do you mean?"

She scanned his body again. "He was shot at almost point-blank range with a laser... at the back of the head, where the vertebrae connect to the skull. That explains the lack of blood... the entry-point was cauterised by the heat. But Nihlus wasn't stupid and he wasn't careless. How the hell did someone get close enough to shoot him? He would never turn his back on someone."

"Unless he didn't see them. Perhaps the Geth have stealth technology, similar to the Normandy. Only... maybe they can disappear visually."

"Commander!"

Williams' voice was sharp, and the young woman drew her gun, ready to fire. Turning and standing quickly, and pulling her own weapon, Ellie saw a human face peeping over the top of a nearby crate, seemingly abandoned by its loading crew. The face was pale and terrified.

"At ease, Williams," she said, waiting for the Chief to put her weapon away before addressing the face. "It's safe to come out now. We're not going to harm you."

"Oh, thank god you're not one of them!" said the man, standing and leaning against the crate for support.

"What's your name? And what are you doing here?"

"Powell. My name's Powell. I work here as a labourer. You know, loading and off-loading goods, putting them in storage. I was... I was in the warehouse... napping... when the fighting broke out."

"You were _napping_ whilst at work?"

"Sometimes I need a nap to help get me through my shift," he said guiltily. "So when I can, I sneak off to catch forty winks where my supervisor can't find me. Now my supervisor's dead. Those... those things that came from the mother-ship... they killed him. They killed everyone."

"Tell me about this ship. Where did it land? How many troops came out of it."

"I don't know," he said, his eyes pleading desperately with her to understand. "I was woken up by this horrible humming noise in my head. It was everywhere, but it was like... it didn't come in through my ears. It was just there, in my mind. It made it almost impossible to think. That's when I saw the ship descending. I've never seen anything so terrifying in my life. I just hid here, and waited until the shooting stopped and the... whatever they were... went away."

"Where's the beacon now? Did the Geth take it?"

"The Geth? Is that what they were? No. The beacon wasn't here. We moved it to the other side of the rail line. We knew a ship was coming for it, and we thought you'd want to land out there, rather than in this small port."

"We have to get to the beacon. What's the fastest way for us to travel there?"

"The mono-rail. You can take the train directly to the platform where we took the beacon. But... you should be careful. That other Turian might be waiting for you."

Warning bells rang through her head, sending a shiver down her spine. She took a step forward, fixing Powell with her stare through the visor of her helmet. He took a frightened step backwards.

"_What_ other Turian?" she asked.

"There was another Turian... he got here first. He was waiting when your... ah... friend showed up. I think they knew each other. Your friend called the other one 'Saren'. And then he let his guard down. The other Turian... Saren... he shot him right in the back. No warning. He just... killed him."

She purposely relaxed her hold on her pistol, aware that she was gripping it tightly. Anger, prickly and hot, threaded its way through her mind, making her want to seriously hurt somebody. Jenkins' death had been bad enough. He'd been killed by an enemy. But to be gunned down by a friend? It went against everything she stood for. It went against all the training she had ever undertaken. In the eyes of a marine, in the eyes of a soldier, betraying your team, betraying your friends, was the greatest crime a person could ever commit. Trust was the only thing that soldiers _truly_ had... everything else was ephemeral.

"Can I... go now?" Powell asked nervously. "No offence, but being out here in the open... I just don't like it. I wanna go back to my hiding place."

"Yes, go. And keep your head down. Williams, do you know the way to the mono-rail?"

"Aye, Commander. I'll take you there."

o - o - o - o - o

"What do you think about all of this?" Kaidan asked Ellie as their car sped along the mono-rail system under the guidance of Chief Williams.

She lifted up her visor, letting air stream into her helmet, refreshing her instantly. Nihlus had been right. Eden Prime was beautiful. It was nothing like underworld of London City where she had grown up, with its high-rise buildings, tacky neon lights and dark, narrow alleyways.

"I think it's all a pile of bullshit," she said at last. "And I think that if this guy, Saren, is waiting on the other side of this rail... I'm going to put a bullet in his head. For Jenkins, for Nihlus, for every scientist, colonist and soldier who lost their lives today."

"I'm right with you, little sis," he said with a nod. She smiled, and pulled down her visor as the car approached the platform.

"I think I know where they'll have taken the beacon," said Ashley, stepping onto the station as their car drew to a halt. "I think we should... oh my god."

Ellie hurried to the woman's side, and looked down at the reason why Williams' face had lost all of its colour. There, on the floor, beeping quietly, was a bomb. Instantly, she crouched down beside it, activating her omni-tool, running her eyes over the holographic display.

"Don't worry," said Kaidan confidently to the Chief. "This isn't the first bomb she's disarmed."

"But it's pretty damn sophisticated," Ellie said quietly. "It's rigged with a simple timer, but it's networked with three more bombs around this station. I can deactivate them, but if I don't do it right, deactivating one will trigger the rest."

"Take your time. No rush," Williams assured her.

"Wish I could. There's less than five minutes before these bombs go off. You two, head out. Find the others. Radio me when you've located them. I'll work on this one."

"Aye, Sir," said Williams.

"You can do it," said Kaidan, laying a reassuring hand on her shoulder for a moment before following Williams up the steps to the higher tier of the platform.

Taking a deep breath, Ellie focused her attention on her omni-tool, ignoring the bomb itself. This was nothing more than another challenge. She had to concentrate on a work-around... on the challenge, not on the consequences of failure. Methodically, she ran several simulations on her omni-tool. As the tool actively scanned the bomb's circuitry, she created virtual firewalls to seal off certain sections of the programming. Then she ran more simulations, and when she was sure that it would work, she activated the program she had created. For twenty seconds her omni-tool flashed as it worked, and for twenty seconds she held her breath. Then, when the display changed from 03:17 to 00:00, she exhaled, feeling adrenaline flowing through her body.

Then she became consciously aware of the sound of gunfire. It had been there, in the background, since Kaidan and Williams had left her, but she had ignored it, filtered it out to concentrate on more important matters. Now her team-mates needed her, and she grabbed her pistol and ran up the stairs two at a time, ducking behind a crate when something fired at her. Not far away, the other two were in a fire-fight with a small group of Geth on the other side of the platform.

"Commander, the second bomb's over here." Kaidan's voice sounded somewhat breathless, and when she craned her head around the crate to examine his location, she understood why. Behind him was a bomb. Geth were shooting at him. If a stray bullet hit the bomb, it would explode, killing them all.

"I'm on my way," she replied. "Williams, lay down some cover-fire for me."

Ashley nodded, and leant around the side of the cargo crate she was hiding behind, shooting in rapid bursts at the Geth, drawing their fire. When they stopped shooting at her, Ellie ran in a crouch to Kaidan's position, and immediately got to work on the bomb. She checked that the design and programming was the same as the first one she had deactivated, then executed the program which disabled the explosive circuitry.

"I've got a visual on the third bomb, Commander," said Williams. It's about twenty feet away from you... I think you can make it if you use the crates along the gangway for cover. Lieutenant Alenko and I can cover you, keep their attention."

"Do it!"

As her companions opened fire on the remaining Geth, Ellie ran forward, sheltering behind the crates as Williams suggested. Eventually she saw the third bomb herself, and made a dive towards it. She felt her personal shield flicker as a bullet passed through it, but it missed her body, flying just wide of her leg. The display on the bomb read 01:26, and she knew she didn't have much time to disarm this and find the next.

The sound of nearby shooting grew louder, and she realised that Kaidan and Williams were closing in on her position, pressing forward. They overtook her as she sat waiting for her omni-tool to finish deactivating the bomb, and settled in to a steady routine of attacking and taking cover in turns. When the bomb had been deactivated, Ellie joined them, and used her omni-tool to overload the Geth's shields. Vulnerable, they quickly succumbed to gunfire.

"Spread out, find the last bomb, quickly!" she ordered, her entire body tense.

"It's over here, Commander!" Ashley called out.

Ellie hurried over and crouched beside the weapon. As the display changed from 00:26 to 00:25, she activated her omni-tool's hacking program and waited for the override confirmation. When the display froze at 00:05, and then changed to 00:00, she heard sighs of relief from behind her.

"Didn't doubt you for a minute, Ellie," said Kaidan, raising his visor to wipe the sheen of perspiration from his forehead.

"That was great work, Commander," said Williams. "I doubt anything would have been left alive on Eden Prime if those bombs went off."

"Let's not do this again," she said, accepting a hand up from the floor from Kaidan. "Working under this sort of pressure is really not my thing."

"There's the beacon, anyway," said Williams. She pointed down and to the right, and Ellie followed the direction of her finger. Sure enough, standing at the edge of a loading platform and glowing with an eerie blue-green light, was a tall spire of alien technology. It _looked_ like a simplistic radio tower. Maybe that's what it was. Maybe the Protheans were using it to phone home.

She walked down the metal stairs to stand before the beacon. This was what had drawn the Geth here. This was why Jenkins and Nihlus and god knew how many scientists and colonists had been killed. The Geth had only left it behind because they thought they were blowing it up. She just hoped that this would all be worth it, to the Council.

"Normandy," she said, opening a radio link to the ship. "We have located the beacon. We're ready for a pickup. I'm sending the co-ordinates to you now. It might be a tight fit, but I think Joker can land nearby."

"Good work, Shepard," said Captain Anderson. "We'll be there shortly. Well done."

"Commander!"

At Williams' panicked call, she spun around on the spot and saw Kaidan being slowly pulled towards the Prothean beacon. Even as he fought it, his feet slid along the ground, forcing him nearer to the piece of alien tech. With no thought for her own safety, she sprinted toward her friend, crashing into him at full speed, knocking him out of the path of the beacon. But whatever force had held him now gripped her tightly. She couldn't move, couldn't fight; all she could do was watch in horror as the light from the beacon began to glow intensely. She felt her feet leave the floor as her body was moved into the air. She heard Williams shout at Kaidan to stay back.

Then a bright, blinding light tore across her vision, bringing with it dark flashing images, fragments of some bigger picture that she simply could not grasp. The images brought pain, and a feeling of nausea, and for a brief instant it felt as if her head was going to explode. Then, mercifully, everything went black.


	4. Dirty Business

Deus Ex Machina

_4. Dirty Business_

_There was pain, all-encompassing. It was everywhere. Biting, rending, tearing, searing. Blinding, flashing light, burning images of despair. Bodies writhed in agony, screaming, crying, defeated. A plague spread across the galaxy, touching worlds, travelling through space, infecting ships and planets alike. Resistance, pathetic, futile. The night grew black, the stars dimmed, and the silver swarm descended hungrily._

_ Something delved, deep, deep, down inside. Searching, desperately, always searching. Memories were probed; too recent. There was further searching. It went back, diving deeper, looking for the smaller. Too much missing. Not enough links. Back and back it went, smaller and smaller in wordless, formless search. Then, something was found. A memory dragged up, recalled without consciousness, spanning thousands of millennia, a memory seen on every world. The sky darkened, the light of the sun extinguished. There was death. The storm had come, and fire rained from the sky._

o - o - o - o - o

When Eloise Shepard opened her eyes, it was to bright light and a throbbing head. Two worried faces looked down on her, watching her intently.

"Fluh," she said. It was _supposed_ to be 'what happened?', but her lips didn't seem to want to work.

"Take it easy, Commander, you've been out for more than half a day," said Doctor Chakwas, helping her to sit up on the bed.

"I'm so sorry, Ellie," said Kaidan. He looked contrite. "This was my fault. I think I activated the beacon when I got too close to it. You saved me, but it grabbed you instead. It... exploded."

"Don't worry about it, Kaidan," she managed to say at last, her mouth finally engaged with her brain. "It wasn't your fault. And I'm fine now. Right, Doc? I'm fine?"

"As far as I can tell, yes. But whilst you were unconscious, I picked up some unusual brain activity. Abnormal beta waves. Increase in REM. Usually indicative of intense dreaming. Do you remember anything at all?"

"I... I think I had a dream. Or maybe a vision," she said cautiously. Whatever it was, it was terrifying to behold. An image of death and destruction that paled in comparison she had ever seen before. Compared to this, Eden Prime was nothing. The batarians were nothing. Akuze was nothing.

The door opened to admit Captain Anderson, and reality came rushing back to Ellie. Jenkins, Nihlus, the Geth, the strange ship... her memories came flooding back, threatening to overwhelm her.

"Doctor, Lieutenant," said Anderson. "I'd like to speak to the Commander in private."

He waited for Doctor Chakwas and Kaidan to leave the room before pacing it slowly, obviously deep in thought. Ellie waited patiently. She could tell that he wasn't happy. But she also knew that he was trying to put his thoughts into words, to convey to her the importance of what he wanted to say. He looked tired, his face strained and lined with wrinkles of worry around his eyes.

"Lieutenant Alenko told me what happened down on the planet," he said at last. "I won't lie to you, Shepard. The Council is going to want answers. Nihlus is dead. The beacon is destroyed and the Geth are invading."

"I don't have answers, Captain. If anything, I have questions."

"I understand. You should know something, though. This other turian that the man, Powell, mentioned... I know him." Anderson's dark face took on a troubled cast. "He's a Spectre. One of the best. A living legend, even. If he's working with the Geth... that means he's gone rogue. A rogue Spectre is trouble. Saren is dangerous... and he hates Humans."

"Why does he hate Humans? What have we ever done to him?"

"He thinks that we're growing too quickly. That our rapid expansion is dangerous."

"Do you think... do you think that he killed Nihlus because Nihlus was willing to sponsor me as a Spectre candidate?" She didn't want to know the answer. She didn't want to be responsible for another death.

"It's possible... but not probable. Saren killing Nihlus at the same time as the Geth attacking? No. The Geth are a bigger threat to the Council than humanity is. If anything, Saren would have worked _with_ Nihlus to prevent the Geth attack."

"We can't let him get away with this, Captain! If he's willing to kill a fellow Spectre, and facilitate a Geth incursion into our space... there's no telling what he's capable of."

"I agree. But to fight this, we're going to need the Council on our side. That's why we're heading straight to the Citadel, with what's left of the beacon."

"Captain... about Jenkins and Nihlus. Did you... get chance to recover their bodies?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes. We'll give Jenkins a military funeral with full honours. And we'll deliver Nihlus' body to the turian embassy on the Citadel."

"The beacon... the vision I had... it was a warning. We need to tell someone about this. We need to... rally the Alliance fleet, or something."

"What exactly did you see, Shepard?"

"I'm not sure. Synthetics, I think. Wiping out a bunch of organics. On a really big scale. It was genocide. We have to be ready."

"I believe you. But until we can prove Saren's involved, until we can make him admit responsibility for the Geth attack, I doubt many others will believe your vision."

"It shouldn't have ended this way, Captain," she said, leaning back against the bed for support. Her head was _really_ throbbing now.

"I know. Don't worry. We'll see that justice is done. Now, we'll be at the Citadel in less than an hour. I want you to spend the next hour _resting_. Not worrying, not working, but relaxing. Consider it an order."

"Aye, sir," she said weakly.

"I'll see you again when we dock, Commander. Then we'll see what the Council can do about Saren."

o - o - o - o - o

"How are you holding up, little sister?"

Eloise and Kaidan were standing together outside the Normandy, waiting for Captain Anderson and Gunnery Chief Williams to join them. Since Kaidan had put in a good word for Ashley, she'd been chosen as a replacement for Jenkins, and Anderson was submitting the transfer papers to the Alliance brass before departing the ship.

"The headache's gone, thank god," she said with a wan smile. "I really hate them... I don't know how you manage."

"Hey, don't make this about me. I'm asking how _you're_ doing."

"I'm fine. Really. Scared out of my wits by the vision of impending doom. Other than that... same old me."

"Good. You had me really worried back there on Eden Prime. Did I mention that I'm sorry for getting too close and triggering that thing?"

"Yes you did. And if you say it again I'll kick your ass for it," she said playfully.

"Right. Got it."

"Commander. Lieutenant," said Anderson, stepping out of the Normandy with Williams behind him. "Are you ready to speak to the Ambassador?"

"I hate politicians," said Ashley. Anderson turned and raised an eyebrow at her. "Uh, Sir," she added.

"We're ready, Captain," said Kaidan. "We'll make the Council understand that Saran is dangerous."

"Good. Now, we'll be heading to our embassy first, so that Ambassador Udina can brief us on what to expect."

"Remember where we parked the car, kids," Ellie said as she followed Anderson towards the elevator.

"Dock 422. Got it, Commander," said Williams.

The elevator closed after Kaidan stepped inside and began to hum as it descended the levels of the Citadel. This was the first time Ellie had ever been on the Citadel. The first time she had ever seen it. When they had approached it earlier, she, Kaidan and Ashley had stared at it from the window of the Normandy's cockpit area. Simply put, it was astounding. And huge. Nestled inside a nebula that shone with every colour imaginable and was illuminated by the nearby sun, the Citadel was the largest thing ever constructed. Even the Destiny Ascension, the flag-ship of the Citadel fleet that orbited the station, was small in comparison. Compared to the Destiny, the Normandy was a toy. Compared to the Citadel, it was a mote of dust.

The Destiny and the Citadel had been awe-inspiring, and at the same time, very sobering sights. Despite the advancements that humanity had made, anything they had paled in comparison to Council tech and force. The station, built more than 50,000 years ago by the Protheans, was far more advanced than anything humanity could hope to achieve for a very long time. Even the Normandy wouldn't be here without help from the turians.

The door of the elevator opened with a pleasant chime, and she followed Captain Anderson out, then stopped in her tracks. Ashley walked into the back of her, then she too let her jaw drop as she drank in the sight of the Citadel. It was nothing like she had imagined. This place was no mere space station, like Arcturus. It was a beautiful, pristine construction of gently sloping roads and shining white buildings. Tall green trees lined the walkways, and in the centre of the huge open area was a long, azure lake, with small waterfalls creating the quiet music of nature.

Life was abound here. Songbirds flitted around from tree to tree, and she realised this wasn't just a station, it was a community, a living thing in its own right. Aliens of multiple species strolled along the undulating white roads. She saw Humans talking with salarians, asari laughing with turians, volus and elcor walking slowly together, tall hanar drifting by. Their numbers were myriad, and they made her feel small.

"Wow," said Ashley, leaning over a railing to look down at the lake beneath them. "Would you look at that. Do you think anyone's ever drowned in there?"

"This place is incredible," said Kaidan. "I mean, it's huge. You could spend a lifetime here and never visit all of it."

"Really puts things in perspective, doesn't it?" Ellie mused, looking down at the beautiful lake.

"Commander?" said Anderson. He'd walked further down the road, oblivious to the fact that his crew members had stopped to take a look around. "There'll be time for sightseeing later. Right now, we have an appointment with the Ambassador."

"Sorry Captain," she said, rounding up Kaidan and Ashley.

Though they all continued to observe everything around them as they followed the Captain, but they didn't stop again until they reached the Embassies. There, Anderson led them up several flights of stairs, and into a large open room that had a spectacular view of the lake.

A man wearing formal clothes that bore the insignia of the Alliance was standing in the room. His dark skin was lined with wrinkles around his mouth and eyes, his black hair shot through with white. He was tall and slender, and he puffed up his chest at the holographic images standing in front of him. The images were of three aliens; a turian, an asari, and a salarian, and the flickered with a glow of blue light. Their images were being projected from elsewhere in the Citadel, Ellie realised.

"This is an outrage!" the man huffed angrily. "The Council would step in if a turian colony was attacked!"

"The turians do not form colonies along the Terminus Systems, Ambassador," sad the salarian hologram.

"Your people knew the risks before they started settling there," said the asari. "For all we know, this was a single, isolated incident. Until we have proof that the Geth are planning on leaving the Veil, there is nothing we can do."

"What about Saren's involvement?" said the Ambassador.

"Citadel Security are looking into your claims," said the turian. "We will discuss their findings in our meeting later, and not before then."

The holograms faded away to nothing, and the Ambassador turned around, his face thunderous. He also looked tired; the whites of his eyes were verging on pink, and tired bags were visible even through his dark skin. His body stooped a little, as if holding himself tall ad upright for the benefit of the Council had been an arduous chore.

"Captain Anderson," he said. "It would seem you've brought your entire crew with you."

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime, Ambassador," Anderson replied. "In case you have any questions for them."

"I've already read the reports, Captain. And so has the Council. They're not pleased about the loss of the beacon, and neither am I."

"Ambassador Udina, this is Commander Shepard," he said, gesturing to her. "She received some kind of vision from the beacon before it exploded."

"Ah, Commander Shepard," said the Ambassador. "A shame that your mission failed so miserably. Not only did we lose the beacon, but also the chance to finally get a Human into the Spectres."

"With all due respect, Sir," she replied, "I don't give a damn about joining the Spectres. Nobody consulted me on it before making the decision for me. If you're going to sacrifice me on the altar, at least admit that it's your hand wielding the knife."

"I can see why she's _your_ XO, Anderson," said Udina, though he didn't sound at all approving. "I don't have time for idle talk. I'm going to the Council Chambers, to hurry this meeting along. Captain, please join me."

"I'll see you in an hour, Shepard," said Anderson. "Meet us in the Council Chambers, at the top of the Citadel Tower. I'll make sure you have security clearance to access the Chambers."

"Aye, Sir," she said with a salute. Anderson simply nodded to himself, then followed Udina out of the room.

"Looks like there's trouble in paradise," Kaidan remarked when they were alone.

"I hate politicians," said Ashley.

"This isn't going to go well," Ellie sighed. "I can see it now. There's far too much red tape around this place. And, like the Captain said, Saren's one of their top agents. I get the feeling that nothing short of a vid of Saren standing amongst a pile of bodies holding a gun and cackling maniacally is going to convince them that he's guilty. And even then, they'd probably claim it was a fake."

Ashley stifled a yawn, then stretched her arms above her head, loosening the muscles in her body.

"Well, I suppose we have an hour to kill, Commander. What do you want to do until then?"

"Are you alright, Williams? You look pretty tired. You too, Kaidan."

"Some of us didn't get fifteen hours' sleep on the way here," said Kaidan, and she gave him a guilty smile.

"Right. Why don't you guys head back to the Normandy, catch up on some sleep? I'll see the Council with Captain Anderson and the Ambassador."

"No way I'm missing the party, Commander," Ashley grinned. "Besides, I was hoping to see more of the place before the meeting. I'll take a little tiredness."

"Me too," said Kaidan. "I want to hear what Saren has to say for himself."

"Alright. Just checking. Let's go take the grand tour, then. We'll see what this place has to offer."

"Great," said Ashley, following her down the stairs and out into the main ward. "What first? Weapon shops, entertainment, restaurants..."

"Are you here for the tour, or the shopping, Chief?" Kaidan teased.

"Hey, no harm in checking out the guns on sale. Won't catch me buying shoes, but if we come across armour, or ammo, we might as well take a look, right Lieutenant?"

"Don't get too excited. We've got less than an hour until we see the Council, and I get the feeling we shouldn't be late," said Ellie. She stepped aside as a pair of salarians hurried by, talking quietly with each other, their hands moving in rapid animation. They were strange looking creatures... even stranger than turians. They reminded her of Earth amphibians, like frogs.

"Welcome to Citadel Tourism Terminal One," said a chirpy female voice. She jumped and turned around, and found herself looking at a translucent... thing. It looked like a partial representation of an asari, only made of virtual holographic circuitry.

"What are you?" Ellie asked the being.

"I am Avina, the interactive VI programmed to give those passing through the Citadel an introduction and overview of each area."

"A VI?" said Kaidan, staring suspiciously at Avina. "Isn't that illegal?"

"No. I have limited functions, and am programmed only to respond to general area enquiries."

"So you're basically a talking encyclopedia?" asked Ellie.

"That is a fair analogy."

"Alright. Give us the overview of this area."

"You are standing in the Presidium Ward, at the entrance to the Citadel Embassies. To my left, and further along the Presidium, is the Citadel Tower, which houses both the Traffic Control and the Citadel Chambers, where the Councillors meet to discuss matters of Galactic Importance. The Presidium also leads to the Wards, and to Citadel Security..."

"Wait, what are the Wards?"

"The Wards are the location of most commercial and entertainment activity on the Citadel. They are home to the Markets, where goods can be purchased and sold, and entertainment venues such as Chora's Den and Flux."

"What's the fastest way to get around this place, Avina? It's huge."

"The Citadel Rapid Transit System is the most convenient way for people to move around the Citadel. The piloted shuttles can convey you to any main Citadel area that possesses a Transit docking terminal."

"Thanks for the info."

"You're welcome. Have a pleasant day."

"The Markets sound promising," said Ashley as their small group moved away from the VI.

"Personally, I'd like to check out C-Sec," said Kaidan. "Policing a station of this size must take a phenomenal amount of work. I mean, I thought Arcturus was big, but this place... they have ships coming and going all the time, from a dozen or more different races. There must be over a million people here, and I doubt they're all politicians. C-Sec must run like a well-oiled machine."

"Machines can break," Ellie pointed out. "And they can be taken apart."

Strolling along the Presidium, she turned her attention to the aliens around her. Whenever she encountered two or more of them talking, she focused her hearing on them, listening in to their conversations. Although most Humans considered it rude to listen into the conversations of others, she rarely let that fact bother her. If conversations were supposed to be private, they shouldn't be carried on out here, where people could eavesdrop.

The conversations were varied. Some people talked about their own affairs, which were meaningless to her. Others commented on galactic affairs. She heard a few references to Humans... most seemed to think that there were too many Humans on the Citadel these days. She was very careful not to look at the aliens who voiced those opinions; they'd probably realise she was listening if she reacted to their words.

"Those asari sure are beautiful," said Kaidan, watching a tall, curvaceous blue-skinned woman walk by.

"Careful, Lieutenant," said Ashley. "Something might fly into your mouth if you don't close it."

"All asari are women," Ellie pointed out. "Or genderless. It wasn't really made clear during training."

"They look pretty human, though. I mean, just look at the salarians. Pretty weird, huh?"

"I'm sure we look just as 'weird' to them, Williams."

"Right. Of course. Didn't mean anything by it."

They wandered in silence for a while, until they came to a large marble statue of a tall, bulky alien wielding a gun. Some twenty feet high, it towered over everything around it, managing to look both menacing and respectful at the same time.

"This must be the monument to the Krogan for their part in the Rachni Wars," Ellie said. "I saw a picture of it once, at Arcturus. I didn't realise it was so big, though."

"What's it honouring, exactly?" asked Ashley.

"The Council opened up a Mass Relay that led to a Rachni system, and the Rachni invaded, raging war for some three hundred years. Because the Rachni could live on inhospitable worlds, it made tracking them down and taking the fight to them impossible. Then the Council discovered the Krogan, who were a fast breeding and rather aggressive. They used the Krogan as soldiers to fight the Rachni... and the Krogan exterminated them. They were so fast, and had such rapid cellular regeneration, that they could survive on Rachni worlds, at least long enough to eradicate their enemy. As thanks, the Krogan were given many more worlds to settle, and technology to help them. They also got this monument here, as a reminder of all they did for the Council."

"Yeah, but the krogans reproduced too quickly," said Kaidan. "They started spilling out into other systems, pillaging and settling worlds belonging to other races. The Krogan Rebellions, the Council called it, and they were powerless to stop them. At least, until they discovered the turians, and used _them_ to fight against the Krogan. The turians unleashed a salarian genophage on the Krogan, which made most of them infertile. They couldn't replace the numbers they lost to the turians, and they lost the war."

"Stupid, vicious circles," said Ellie, shaking her head.

"If it's a circle, it makes you wonder who they're going to use to stop the turians," said Ashley thoughtfully. "Maybe that's why we're here."

She felt Kaidan's surprise at the Chief's statement, and managed to catch his eye before he could comment. She shook her head, silently ordering him to let the matter drop. She had already reviewed Williams' file, and knew that the woman's grandfather had been in charge of the military base on Shanxi colony when the turians invaded during the First Contact War. Eventually, General Williams had surrendered to prevent further civilian losses, and no doubt Ashley still carried the stigma of what most Humans considered a betrayal. Though Ellie didn't condone Ashley's active dislike of turians, she couldn't blame the woman for her views either.

"This must be the Citadel Tower," she said to change the subject. The tall, white building in front of them reached up towards the faux Citadel sky, a shining bastion of galactic co-operation. "Last chance to change your minds about going back to the ship, guys."

"No thanks, Commander," said Ashley firmly.

"I'm with you all the way, little sis," said Kaidan.

"Right. Let's go, then."

The light inside the Tower was darker than the Presidium. It was also quieter, with tall domed ceilings that lent an air of quiet deference to the place. The colours here were more muted than outside. The trees were smaller, and carefully arranged into small arboreta. The people, both human and alien, were dressed more conservatively, almost as if the Tower itself demanded more respect of those visiting it.

A turian C-Sec officer was waiting for them behind a desk, a little way into the building. It was clearly a checkpoint of some kind, and Ellie stopped her team beside it.

"Commander Shepard. You must relinquish your weapons before going any further," said the officer.

"What? No way I'm giving up my gun," said Ashley immediately.

"Do as the man says, Chief," Ellie ordered. "Otherwise you'll have to wait here for us."

Ashley complied, grumbling quietly under her breath as she handed over each weapon she carried. Ellie relented her pistols, and Kaidan gave up his own guns. Only then were they allowed to progress further into the Tower.

The building was even longer than it was high, and groups of aliens were clustered around the various arboreta holding quiet discussions about Council business. Even with her enhanced hearing, she could only make out bits and pieces of the discussions, so hushed were they. Then, two louder voices reached her ears, and she looked ahead to where two turians were stand at the top of a wide flight of stairs. One of them was pacing in an agitated manner. Had he a tail, he probably would have been lashing it.

"Saren's hiding something. I just need more time," said the pacing turian. "Try to stall them."

"Stall the Council? Don't be ridiculous. It's over, Garrus. I'm closing the case." The second turian left, and the first narrowed his eyes at the man's back. Then he caught sight of her, with Ashley and Kaidan in tow, and the anger melted somewhat from his face.

"Commander Shepard," he said, though how any of these people knew who she was was a mystery. "I'm Garrus Vakarian, the C-Sec officer assigned to investigate Saren after your Ambassador's allegations."

"What has your investigation turned up?"

"Nothing. Saren's a Spectre, which means everything he touches is classified. I've not found any hard evidence. I have a lead, though. If I had time to pursue it, I know it would turn up something."

"Who were you talking to just now? He seemed to think you wouldn't find anything."

"Hmph. That was Executor Pallin, Head of Citadel Security. My boss."

"Commander Shepard!" Anderson's voice rang out clearly through the Tower, disturbing the silence.

"Looks like the Council's ready for us," said Kaidan.

"Good luck, Shepard," said Garrus. "Maybe they'll listen to you more than me."

"Yeah. Maybe."

She hurried towards Anderson, but saw no sign of Udina. Where had the Ambassador gone? Surely he wouldn't leave the meeting in the Captain's hands? There seemed to be little love lost between the two men.

"The Council's already in session," Anderson said without preamble. "Udina managed to convince them to start early."

Ellie shook her head. If the idiot man hadn't pushed for this meeting to happen so quickly, maybe Garrus would have had time to follow up on his lead, and Executor Pallin wouldn't have closed the case.

She surreptitiously examined the people with her as they entered the Council Chambers. Captain Anderson seemed calm on the outside, but his eyes betrayed slight agitation. Not enough for most people to pick up on, but she had an edge over most other people. The special training she had been given included a comprehensive study of human body language. They'd wanted her to be able to go into any situation and assess the people involved in it. Her natural instincts and attention to detail, developed during her childhood and whilst roaming the streets of London with the Blood-dog Gang, had been augmented with a crash course in psychology. She wasn't a true psychologist, no, but, along with her basic weapons training and the tech qualifications she had gained over the years, she was a good candidate for the role of negotiator. It was what she had been trained in the marines for. And though nobody ever said 'espionage', it had been implied more than once.

Beside Anderson, Kaidan strode casually forward. He was her oldest and dearest friend, and as unmovable as a rock. He never lost his cool on a battlefield, be it a political one or one involving combat. And she knew that he would see things that she didn't. Sometimes, she spent so much time focusing on the minutiae, that she missed the more obvious things. But Kaidan always saw the bigger picture. It was why they worked so well together.

Ashley, as the newest member of the Normandy, was something more of an enigma, but Ellie had already formed a basic opinion of the young Gunnery Chief. Williams was young, but cautious, and somewhat conservative in her views. She fought well and performed any task without complaint. She had a good sense of humour, and didn't hesitate to speak her mind. That was one of the reasons why she hadn't been allowed to serve aboard a ship before now. But so far, Ashley had been carrying herself well. Whether or not she'd make a good officer... only time would tell. All in all, Ellie felt confident about the people she was now going into battle with. Shame the same couldn't be said about Udina.

The room that Anderson led to them was, in a word, cavernous. The floor jutted out as a gangway over a huge, open-air arboretum. At the far side of the room stood the three Councillors, this time in the flesh. In the centre position was the asari, blue-skinned and regal. To her right was the Turian, whose dark face and white tattoos reminded her keenly of Nihlus. To her left was a tall, hooded salarian, his large dark eyes reflecting the lights of the room. And, to one side of the Councillors, stood a large, projected image of Saren, his body language, if not his face, conveying smug satisfaction.

"Though the geth attack on Eden Prime is cause for concern, there is nothing to suggest that Saren was involved," said the asari Councillor.

"And eye-witness saw him murder Nihlus in cold blood!" said Udina angrily.

"We have read the report," said the salarian Councillor. "The testimony of one traumatised dockworker is hardly compelling proof."

"I resent these accusations," Saren spoke up. "Nihlus was a fellow Spectre, and a friend."

"That only allowed you to catch him off-guard!" said Captain Anderson.

"Ah, Captain Anderson." The holographic Saren turned his cold gaze to the Captain. "You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me. And this must be your protégé. Commander Shepard. The one who let the beacon get destroyed."

"The mission to Eden Prime, along with the beacon, was classified," she said, hoping she didn't sound as emotionally invested as Udina. "The only way you could have known about the beacon was if you were there."

"With Nihlus gone, his filed passed on to me," said Saren. "I read the reports. I was not impressed."

"There's still the matter of Commander Shepard's vision," said Anderson. "It may have been triggered by the beacon."

"Are we to allow dreams into evidence now? How am I supposed to defend my innocence against... this," he said, gesturing to the humans clustered in front of the Council.

"Do you have any anything to add, Commander?" the salarian council member asked her.

"No. I've told you all I can. If you won't see what's in front of you, nothing I say will make any difference."

"What we need to see, Commander, is proof. And thus far, we've seen none."

"There is insufficient evidence to link Saren to the geth attack," said the regal asari Councillor. "Ambassador Udina, your request to have Saren disbarred from the Spectres is denied."

With a last self-satisfied glare, the hologram of Saren disappeared, and one by one the Councillors left the room. Defeated, Eloise followed the Captain and Ambassador out of the Chambers, with Kaidan and Williams walking glumly behind her.

o - o - o - o - o

Back in the human embassy, the mood was grim. This had been the worst possible outcome of the Council meeting. Not only had the Council ruled in Saren's favour, but now Saren also knew that the Alliance was onto him. He knew that they knew he was on Eden Prime, and that he had killed Nihlus. He would be even more careful in future.

"It was a mistake letting you get involved in this, Captain," said the Ambassador. He was pacing back and forth, and seemed to be taking the Council's rejection harder than anyone. It was understandable, in a way. If humanity was ever given a seat on the Council, Ambassador Udina would be the most likely candidate for putting his ass in that seat. And now the Councillors had just tossed out his petition as if it was worthless. "You and Saren have too much history. It made the Council question our motives."

"I know Saren," said the Captain. "If he's working with the geth, then he's doing so to exterminate the entire human race. Our colonies are endanger. Even Earth itself is not safe."

"Look," she said, standing up from her chair and putting herself between the two men. If she didn't stop them now, they'd likely argue until they both grew old and grey. "We need to find a way to expose Saren, but we can't fall back on idle speculation. We need cold, hard proof. And we need to find a way to get to it. There must be _somebody_ on this station who can give us some dirt on Saren. Even if it's just a ticket for parking his ship in the wrong bay, it would be a start."

"What about that C-Sec officer, Garrus," Kaidan suggested. "We saw him arguing with the executor."

"Yeah," agreed Williams. "And it seemed like he was close to finding something."

"I suppose it's a start," Udina reluctantly admitted. "I have a contact in C-Sec who can help us track Garrus down. His name's Harkin."

"Forget about it," said Anderson firmly. "Harkin was suspended from duty last month for drinking on the job. I won't work with that loser."

"You won't have to. I'm handing the investigation over to Commander Shepard." Eloise was surprised; she didn't think the Ambassador had that much faith in her. "I don't want the Council using your past history with Saren against us."

"You can't pull the Captain off the investigation," she spoke up. "If he has history with Saren, then he knows him better than any of us. We could use his knowledge, and his expertise."

"No, the Ambassador's right," said Anderson. "Having me on the case will simply give Saren more ammunition against us. You, on the other hand, are more impartial."

"Alright. I'll do my best, Sir."

"Good," said Udina, satisfied by her compliance. "Now, I have work to do. Captain, please give the Commander any information about Saren that may be relevant to her investigation, then join me in my room."

The Ambassador seemed in a slightly better mood as he left. Gone was his tired stoop, replaced with fresh energy. No doubt the thought of bringing down a Spectre gave him an enormous sense of satisfaction. And if Saren was proven to be a traitor, Udina would then push for _her_ admittance into the Spectres, in recognition for all her hard work in exposing the turian. People _were_ just pawns to be moved around a board, as far as politicians were concerned.

"You'll probably find Harkin getting drunk in Chora's Den," said Anderson. "It's a dingy little club in the lower section of the Wards."

"What's he like?" she asked.

"He's a disgrace. He pretty much embodies the 'corrupt cop' stereotype. Drinking on the job, doing drugs, bribery, blackmail, roughing up prisoners... you name it, he's done it. But he joined C-Sec almost twenty years ago, and was one of the first human officers. The Embassy worked out a lot of deals to keep him in Security. But now we have more than enough humans in C-Sec... we don't need scum like Harkin anymore."

"Sounds like he's been skating on thin ice for a while."

"He has. And now the Embassy has had enough. But he should be able to tell you where to find Garrus... Harkin always has his ear to the ground, in case anything he hears turns out to be profitable."

"Is there anyone else who might help us?"

"You could try speaking with Barla Von. He has an office in the financial district," said Anderson thoughtfully. "He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."

"Who's that?"

"Nobody knows. He... or she, or they... deal in trading secrets. The Shadow Broker has no enemies, and no allies. He simply sells information to the highest bidder. And somehow it all balances out."

"And you think this Barla Von will give us something to work with?"

"Maybe. He's got an impressive list of clients. Ambassadors, councillors, even Spectres. Barla Von deals in money. He moves a lot of it around without leaving a paper trail. Nothing he does is illegal, but he knows all of the loop holes."

"Sounds good. I'll track down Harkin, then speak with Barla Von."

"I hope this isn't a wild goose chase, Commander," said Williams, putting together the weapon she had just been cleaning. The parts clicked back smoothly into place."

"Right now, Chief, I'd be grateful for geese. Come on, let's go pay a visit to Harkin."

o - o - o - o - o

Ellie opened the door of the Transit cab and stepped out onto the platform. A sign on the wall said 'Chora's Den' in several languages. The ones she was able to read were asari, turian and salarian, though asari was the only language she could both fluently speak and read. The other two were difficult for human vocal chords to recreate.

The cab doors closed and the engine thrummed as its driver moved on to his next pick-up. When the sound of the engine died away, she heard the unmistakable sound of a heavy bass. Putting her hand against the nearby wall, she felt it vibrate slightly against her fingers. If the music was that loud out here, how much louder would it be inside the club?

On the wall above the door was the fluorescent outline of an asari in a provocative pose. Any question about what kind of place this was quickly fled her mind. She wasn't surprised in the slightest when the door opened to reveal a crowd of people standing around a central bar, above which several scantily clad asari women danced.

"Ugh, this place is revolting. It's like... the height of objectification of women. I can't believe anyone would work in a place like this of their own accord," said Williams in disgust.

"I dunno, the dancers seem to be having a pretty good time," said Kaidan, watching one of the asari bend and sway alluringly.

"Come on," said Ellie, pushing through the crowd around the bar and gesturing at the barkeeper for attention. "I'm looking for Harkin," she shouted above the noise of the music. The salarian barkeeper pointed at a human man sitting alone at a table.

She nodded her thanks, and pushed back through the crowd, making her way towards Harkin. When he saw her, a lurid grin crossed his face. It was a grin she had seen many times before; back on the streets of London, in bars, and painted on the faces of soldiers who thought that just because she was a woman, she would be interested in their crass advances. Luckily, the latter were very rare. Most soldiers respected each other, and the N7 marines were the best of the best, which only added to that respect. Still, she was no stranger to having to fend off unwanted male attention; before joining the military, she hadn't hesitated to use force when necessary.

"Well now, look at you, princess," said Harkin when she stood before him. Her enhanced olfactory senses picked up the smell of stale alcohol on his breath. He'd probably been here for some time. "Why don't you sit yourself down, and we'll see where this leads?"

She nodded, took a seat and turned it around, sitting down and folding her arms across the back of it. She didn't want to hurt Harkin; he was too drunk to be a threat, and being a chauvinistic pig rarely warranted unnecessary violence. Still, it wouldn't hurt to play along for a while. After all, she was the one who wanted something from him. He just didn't know yet that he wouldn't be getting anything in return. Behind her, Kaidan and Williams moved a few steps away, to give the illusion of privacy.

"That uniform looks pretty hot on that bod of yours, sweetheart," he said. "If they made more marines like you, maybe I'd've joined the military instead of C-Sec."

"I'm told you're the man to come to for information around here," she said with a smile. "That you always have your ear to the ground, and that if you don't know something, it's probably not worth knowing."

"Sounds like someone's been flapping their mouth about me. Tell you what, sweetheart, why don't you just tell me what you're after, and we'll take it from there," he said, downing whatever alcohol was in his glass.

"I'm looking for someone. A C-Sec officer named Garrus."

"You'd have a better time with me, sweetheart," he grinned. "Wait, if you're looking for Garrus, you must be one of Anderson's crew. Ha! Poor bastard's still looking to take down Saren, is he?"

"Something like that. So, do you know where Garrus is, or not?"

"Yeah. I do. But before I tell you, you gotta answer me something."

"Make it quick."

"Did Anderson ever let you in on his big secret?" asked Harkin with a malicious grin.

"What secret is that?" She already despised the man, but he obviously wanted to have his fun and play his games, so she let him continue.

"He used to be a Spectre. Bet you didn't know that, eh? First human Spectre... but then he blew it, and they kicked him out. That's why he's trying to bring Saren down. Says the turian set him up."

"And you just happen to know this?" she asked skeptically.

"That's right. Been here a long time, me. Like you said, I got my ears to the ground, and my eyes wide open. Not like your friend Garrus. Damned hothead is what he is. Thinks he can save the world. He'll end up like me in the end, though. The executor doesn't like officers who think for themselves. That's why he threw me out."

"I heard it was because you drank on the job."

"Bah! At least I was _doing_ the job. Not like half the officers these days who just walk on by. I tell you, there's too much red tape around this place. Too many laws and rules and restrictions and regulations. You have to rough somebody up, it goes on your record. You skim some money off a drugs bust, it goes on your record. You soldiers got it easy. Nobody cares if you shoot someone. Out here, things are different."

"Can you hear that sound?" she replied. "It's me, playing my tiny violin for you. Now, just tell me where Garrus is, and you can get back to drinking and feeling sorry for yourself."

"Have it your way, princess. I heard that Garrus was sniffing around Dr. Michel's office. She's a hot french doctor, runs a med clinic not far from here in the Wards. Dunno what he wants with the doctor, though. Maybe if you hurry, you can find out."

"Enjoy your drink, Harkin."

She pushed the chair back under the table and gestured for Kaidan and Ashley to follow her out. When the door closed behind them, the fast-beat music began to dim, eventually fading away as they left the area. There didn't seem any point in taking a Transit cab to the medical clinic; it wasn't too far away.

"That Harkin was an ass," said Williams. "If I were you I probably would have shot him. Just in the knee or something."

"Alliance officers can't go around shooting people just because they're first-grade assholes, Williams," she explained. "Harkin may have been a cretin, but he's still a civilian. The marines' mandate is to defend, serve and protect. That, unfortunately, means we have to put up with a lot of crap from people like Harkin. Besides, if you shoot someone who hasn't pulled a gun on you first, you have to do paperwork."

"Yeah... I guess that whole place was just pissing me off. I mean... it's like we've travelled as far as possible from Earth, and yet men are still drooling over semi-naked women."

"Let it go, Williams. That wasn't the worst of the place I've seen... and no doubt we'll see even worse before we die."

"You're right, Commander. I suppose I just thought things would be better out here."

"Different, Chief, but not better," said Kaidan.

"We can moralise about this all day," Ellie interrupted, "but it's not going to help us bring Saren down any faster. Come on, we've got a traitor to expose."


	5. Allies

Deus Ex Machina

_5. Allies_

Beneath the throng of shuttle cabs that wound their way through the air like a swarm of tiny flies, the Citadel teemed with life. Huge buildings towered up from the arms, as tall as anything ever built on Earth, and yet tiny in comparison to the entire structure of the station. Cargo ships, larger than the shuttles, moved steadily to and fro, some docking as others left for faraway destinations, their goods ready to be put to use on any number of colony worlds.

Beneath these myriad ships, their iridescent hulls reflecting the lights from below, Eloise descended a long flight of steps as behind her Kaidan and Williams discussed in quiet voices their earlier encounter with the Citadel Council. Neither had been overly impressed, though Kaidan did manage to convey a measure of respect when he spoke of the Council, unlike Williams who merely thought that the entire thing had been a waste of time.

"You're awfully quiet, Commander," said Kaidan, and for a moment she wondered who he was talking to. Then she realised it was her. It wasn't hard to forget, sometimes, that now she was a Commander. She was glad that Kaidan was taking her promotion within his stride, though. He'd been a marine for two years longer than her, and as a Staff Lieutenant, he should technically have been next in line for a promotion. That the Alliance had promoted her from First Lieutenant to Commander, skipping the Staff Lieutenant rank altogether, was an indication of how desperate they were to get her into the Spectres.

"Still coming to terms with how big this place is," she replied with a smile. "I mean... we're on the Citadel. This is the place that every intelligent race aspires to be. To have an embassy here is one of the highest accolades; to be one of the Council races is like... I don't know. But it's big, and we're here, right in the middle of it."

"Not every intelligent race wants an embassy here, Commander," Ashley pointed out. "Just look at the batarians. They had an embassy and they gave it up."

"Which goes to show how intelligent the batarians _really_ are, Chief."

"Good point. Still... there's some humans who'd prefer to follow their lead. The folks at Terra Firma, for example. They think that we'd be better off alone, without the Council to clip our wings. Then again, most of them _are_ right-wing fanatics."

"If you ask me, we need to find a middle ground," said Kaidan. "I don't doubt that entry into the Council would be a good thing for us, but I don't agree with Udina's methods. Trying to force the issue will just make the other races even more suspicious of us than we already are."

Kaidan and Ashley began another discussion about the matter, but Ellie ignored them and activated her omni-tool. Before leaving the Alliance Embassy she had downloaded maps and schematics for the Citadel, and she searched now for directions to the medical clinic where Dr Michel worked. After she had familiarised herself with the route, she deactivated her omni-tool and cast her mind back to her meeting with Harkin. The man had been a disgrace to humanity. Was that what the other races saw, when they looked at humans? Did they see men like Harkin, who cheated and abused their roles and broke the rules? If so, was it any surprise that the Council hadn't believed them about Saren on Eden Prime? Whatever the reason, she would prove to them that not all humans were like Harkin. She'd show them that humanity wouldn't roll over submissively when the odds were against them.

"Here we are, kids," she said at last, stopping outside a door with a green neon cross sign above it.

"Commander, what are we going to do if Garrus isn't here, or if he's already been and gone?" Williams asked.

"We'll pay a visit to Barla Von, and see if the Shadow Broker has any information on Saren for us," she said, and tapped the door entry button on the wall.

The door of the clinic opened, and Eloise stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes scanned the room once as her mind processed the information and tried to come up with a plan. In the space of five seconds she considered and dismissed several possibilities as too risky.

In the middle of the room, behind a reception desk, three human men had weapons aimed at a terrified woman wearing an Alliance doctor's uniform. One of the men had his arm around the doctor's head in a choke-hold, and the muzzle of his gun rested against her temple. What the thugs couldn't see from their position, but Ellie could from hers, was the C-Sec officer she had met earlier, Garrus Vakarian, crouched behind a stack of medical crates at the entrance to a store room. His rifle was drawn, and aimed towards the man who held the doctor by the neck.

Immediately, her special ops training kicked in. She held out her hands to show that she held no weapons and stood rooted to the spot. Moving forward would threaten the man with the doctor, making him shoot the hostage. Moving backwards would look like an attempt at escape, and make him shoot her. So instead she stood still, forcing him to deal with her.

"Don't move!" the man with the gun at the doctor's head said belatedly. "One more step and I'll shoot her!"

"Why don't you tell me what you want?" she said calmly. "Maybe we can work out some sort of deal that involves you walking out of here and nobody getting shot."

She had no intention of keeping her word, of course. It was the lesson she had learnt, on her first day of training. 'Negotiator' was synonymous with 'liar'. In a hostage situation, there could be no mercy. You just had to keep the enemy talking long enough for the extraction team to come up with a plan. And if you _had_ to give them what they wanted to protect the hostages, you made sure you could track them down for justice after.

A plume of blood sprayed out from the man's head, and he lost his chance for a more peaceful resolution. The doctor screamed as the shot was fired and the thug's grip on her released, and Garrus moved quickly to pull her back behind the crates, to shelter her from the two remaining men.

Ignoring the irritation she felt at somebody interfering with her negotiation, Ellie drew her own gun and took cover in front of the reception desk, with Kaidan and Ashley beside her. Bullets ricocheted off the desk, implanting themselves loudly in the walls of the clinic. From directly behind her she heard two weapons firing almost constantly, with an infrequent reply from another gun on the opposite side of the room.

"I'm going to overload their weapons, trigger a feedback loop in the heat sink," she said quietly to her fellow marines as she activated her omni-tool and set the necessary parameters in the equipment's software. "Get ready to move. Apprehend if possible."

"Ready, Commander," said Kaidan.

She started the omni-tool program, and a few seconds later there were two explosions from behind the desk, and cries of pain as overloaded heat sinks burnt the hands that wielded them. The explosions were followed almost immediately a round of gunfire from the other side of the room, and then her own team-mates moved into position.

"Get down on the ground!" Kaidan shouted at one man. Ellie switched her omni-tool off and drew her own gun, sliding over the reception desk in time to see one man lowering himself painfully to the floor, with Kaidan aiming his gun down at the man's head. Ashley, meanwhile, was checking the second man's neck for a pulse. Her fingers rested against the man's neck for ten seconds, then she shook her head.

"Perfect timing, Shepard," said Garrus, approaching her with the terrified doctor in tow. "I couldn't have asked for a better distraction."

"That was reckless. You could have hit the hostage," she said, keeping the anger from her voice. A good XO didn't let their feelings control them. Anger, fear, nervousness... they were to be conquered, not displayed to the world.

"But I didn't," he said with a shrug, then turned to face the woman he'd saved. "Doctor Michel, are you alright?"

"Yes, I am now," she said breathlessly. A little of the colour was returning to her cheeks, though she still looked a few shades paler than healthy.

"Why were they trying to hurt you?" Ellie asked the woman.

"They... they didn't want me to tell Garrus about the quarian. They said as long as I didn't mention anything, they wouldn't hurt me."

"Wait a minute, what quarian?"

"There is a quarian woman on the station. She came to me because she was injured. I treated her for a gunshot wound, and she left. Then, she returned, asking for my help. She said she needed to make a deal with the Shadow Broker... she wanted his protection."

"What sort of deal did she want to make? And why ask you? Are you involved with the Shadow Broker?"

"No, of course not!" The doctor hesitated. "I think it was because she trusted me. She said she had something to exchange... information that would implicate a Spectre named Saren. She wanted to trade this information for safety. I'm afraid she may now be in grave danger."

"Why?"

"Those were Fist's men," said Garrus.

"That doesn't really mean anything to me."

"He works for the Shadow Broker. I sent the quarian woman to him," said Michel.

"So why were his men threatening you?"

"Word at C-Sec is Fist's been bought out by Saren," said Garrus, and for a moment his eyes blazed angrily. "The Shadow Broker's hired a krogan called Wrex to... deal... with Fist."

"So we find this krogan, we find Fist, we find the quarian, we find what we need to pin murder on Saren?"

"Might not be as easy as that. The krogan's at C-Sec. We brought him in for questioning. They'll be releasing him most likely within the hour."

"Commander," Ashley chimed in. "Lieutenant Alenko and I have cuffed the prisoner. He won't be getting away... not that he wants to, I think. You burnt him pretty bad, he could probably use some medical attention."

"Right. Doctor Michel, will you see what you can do about the burns? And Garrus, will you take him into custody when he's in a better state?"

"No," said Garrus, and for a moment it was a shock to hear somebody outright disobey her order, however much she had veiled it as a request. "I'll call C-Sec, get a couple of officers down here, but if you're going after Fist, I'm coming with you. He's the best chance I have to bring Saren down."

"Alright. Kaidan, Williams, get the suspect onto the bed so that the doctor can treat him. Garrus, make the call. I'll wait outside for C-Sec to show up."

Everybody moved to obey, and she left the room, confident that everything that needed to be done would be done. By paying close attention to the men and women who had been her own COs during the ten years of her military life, she had come to learn bits and pieces about leadership, and since being given the position of commander on the Normandy, she had been reviewing everything she had learnt.

A good leader led from the front, not from the back. A good leader didn't ask anything of his team that he wasn't willing to do himself. A good leader knew when to use the stick and when to use the carrot. A good leader knew that a team who had their XO watching over their every move were more likely to make mistakes. A good leader knew that you had to trust your team to get their jobs done, or they would never trust you.

She leant against the barrier of the reinforced window, looking out at the open arms of the Citadel. A couple of hours ago, this place had been Utopia. Now, she knew that its clean and sparkling veneer hid darker aspects of life. Crime existed here, as it did everywhere. The different was, the criminals here were a bit less obvious about it. They draped their activities in layers of seemingly legitimate business, using informants and hired help to do their dirty work, to minimise the risk of their own crimes being traced. The civility of the Citadel was simply a veil.

"C-Sec is sending two officers, and somebody from the morgue to deal with the two dead men," said Garrus, the door of the clinic swishing closed behind him.

"Thanks," she said, not taking her eyes from the vista before her.

"By the way, how did you know where to find me?"

"Harkin told me you'd be here."

"Ah, so you met Harkin. Did you end up shooting him?"

"No. Whenever I shoot someone, I have to do a ton of paperwork. Harkin didn't seem worth it."

"What, even if you just shoot them in the foot?"

"'Fraid so." She turned to lean back against the railing, so she could face him. "Tell me something. This investigation into Saren. I get the feeling it's personal for you. Why is that?"

"Because I believe he operates too far outside of the law. He can get away with anything. I believe he uses the Spectres as a cover for criminal activities... like this." He gestured at the clinic. "He's a disgrace to my people. Anyway, you hardly seem impartial yourself. What's making _you_ hunt him? I read Udina's report, and I know _he's_ pissed about the geth attacking the colony... by why have _you_ made this personal?"

"Saren killed one of my crew in cold blood. I can't let him get away with that."

"Tell me about this crew member he murdered."

"His name was Nihlus. He was a turian Spectre."

"Ah, yes. The Spectre assigned to retrieve the Prothean beacon. But I thought he was merely there as an observer on behalf of the Council."

"Only officially. He was also supposed to be my mentor."

"Your mentor?"

"Nihlus put my name forward for Spectre candidacy. He was going to assess me, work with me on several missions, and if he liked what he saw, he would have pressed for my admission into the Spectres and mentored me throughout the process."

"So this is a revenge thing?" Garrus mused. "Saren ruined humanity's chances of getting someone into the Spectres, and now you want to make him pay."

"No," she said, standing up straight and taking two steps towards him, focusing her stare on his dark yellow eyes. "This is a revenge thing because he murdered a member of my team. I don't know how it works with your people, but Alliance marines don't stand for that." He met her stare with one of his own, as if trying to take a measure of her.

"Commander?"

She drew her eyes away from Garrus' and saw Kaidan admitting two C-Sec officers into the clinic. Inside the room, Ashley was manhandling the thug off the medical table.

"Tell Williams that I'm ready to head out, Kaidan," she said. He nodded, and gestured for the Chief to leave the recovering man. She turned back to address Garrus. "Look. You want to complete your investigation and expose Saren. I want to make him pay for everything that happened on New Eden. We have the same goal, and I'm happy to work with you on this, but I'm going to be the one calling the shots. Ambassador Udina has raised this with the Council, and he's asked me to lead the investigation. Your supervisor has already closed your case down. Technically, you shouldn't even be here. If you can't cope with that, then please stay out of my way."

"Alright Shepard, you've made your point. We'll play it your way."

"Thanks. Now, will you take us to C-Sec? There's a krogan I need to talk to."

o - o - o - o - o

A small crowd had gathered outside the medical clinic by the time Ellie and her group left. Crime in this section of the Wards was rare, Garrus informed her, because of the proximity of the C-Sec Academy. Crime scenes tended to draw spectators, especially when there was a chance of seeing somebody bleeding or dead. As the injured man was led out in restraints by the officers, there was a round of hushed whispers, speculation about who he might be. When the two bodies, wheeled out on gurneys and draped with black cloth, followed the officers, the whispering grew more excited. Clearly something serious had happened here. How many people had been harmed? Who was responsible? Had anybody gotten away? Was this area even safe anymore?

Eloise shook her head as she and her team followed Garrus away from the scene. It wouldn't be long before the first news reporters started showing up, and then the rumours would spread all over the Citadel. Fist would learn that his men had been unsuccessful in silencing Dr Michel, and he would probably be expecting a visit from C-Sec. He might even try to run or hide. If he left the station, and took the quarian with him, it would be almost impossible to prove Saren's involvement in Eden Prime.

The encounter with Fist's men in the clinic had made her body release adrenalin into her blood stream, serving to heighten her senses. Everything seemed a little clearer; the smell of so many bodied pressed in together was sharper, the footsteps of those around her were louder, and the shadows which clung to light-poor corners were more defined. It was at times like this that she walked the fine line between hyper-awareness and hyper-vigilance. The former was a useful tool that her instructors at the N7 training facility had encouraged. The latter was a debilitating anxiety disorder that led to exhaustion, sleeplessness, and paranoia, which she hadn't experienced since her recovery several months after Akuze. The advantage of hyper-awareness was that, when she focused her ability internally, on herself, she could sense when her mind was going too far, pushing her dangerously towards hyper-vigilance. Then, through a short period of mental meditation that involved pushing away external stimuli, isolating her inner self from everything around her, she was able to switch off her hyper-awareness, preventing it from overwhelming her.

Swtiching off was something that most Alliance soldiers could do. Those that couldn't turn off their emotions, those that couldn't switch off their fear of being killed and their guilt at killing others, quickly broke. In a way, it was similar to old Earth concept of Zen. A clear and empty mind, focused on nothing but the task, detached from thoughts of failure or success, embracing everything around it yet focusing on no one thing in particular, could achieve calm detachment and retain an ability to fight and fight well against an enemy that was frightened or preoccupied.

In her state of mild hyper-awareness, she knew that Kaidan and Williams were close to reaching the end of what they could do. They were tired, though it wasn't easy to tell. It showed in their eyes, more than anything. She also knew that Garrus kept glancing speculatively at her, when he thought she wasn't looking. What for, she had no idea, but she thought it best to bring the subject up now. If he had problems working with humans, it was better to know sooner than later.

"Are there many Humans in C-Sec?" she asked as he led the way down a flight of steps that led back to the Academy.

"Yeah, some. More and more, these days."

"Then why are you staring at me as if you've never seen one before?"

"Was I? My apologies. I'm simply wondering what Nihlus saw in you. I mean, why he put your name forward for Spectre training. Not that I don't think you'd be successful. Hmm. This conversation went better in my head. What I mean is, Spectres are the best of the best. They're special. I wasn't even aware that they were considering a human candidate. So I wonder, out of the hundreds of thousands of potential human candidates... what made Nihlus pick you?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I wish I did. I wish he was still alive so that I could ask him. You look surprised."

"I'm not used to humans caring about dead turians. I suppose you could say the same, only the other way around."

"I care that somebody is dead, who doesn't deserve to be. I don't care what size, colour or species he was. Dead is dead, and undeserving is undeserving. I don't see the galaxy as 'them' and 'us'."

"Maybe that's what Nihlus saw in you. He didn't care about what species a person was either, as long as they could get the job done."

"Did you know him?"

"Not personally. But part of my investigation into Saren led me to looking into his protégé. The two were very different."

"How could someone like Nihlus work with someone like Saren?"

"I don't know. But once he'd joined the Spectres, Nihlus was quick to distance himself from Saren."

"Do you think that he used Saren to get into the Spectres?"

"No. I suspect that he didn't know how strongly anti-human Saren was, when they first became friends. I think that after Nihlus joined, Saren started talking to him, being a little more open with his views. Nihlus didn't like the change in his 'mentor' and decided to put some space between them. It's a shame that with Nihlus' death, his files will have passed on to Saren, and that means Saren knows as much about you as Nihlus did."

"Then he has my military record and my psych profiles. That doesn't mean he knows me. A person can't be summed up by a few reports. All he has are some basic facts."

"I'm sure glad Saren doesn't have _my_ files," said Ashley, professionally stifling a yawn behind her gloved hand.

"Do you think this gives him an edge over us?" asked Kaidan.

"Him being a Spectre gives him all the edge he needs," she replied.

"He won't have that edge for much longer," said Garrus determinedly. "Not if I can help it. Here we are." He opened a door to an elevator and waited for them all to enter before following and punching in a number on the keypad.

"Tell me about Wrex," she said, as the elevator began to ascent.

"There's not much to tell. He's a krogan. Does mercenary work, mostly. We like to keep tabs on all the krogans who come onboard the Citadel. There's nothing preventing them from coming here, of course, and there's not usually many of them at any one time, but a krogan who's pissed off and well paid can do a lot of damage."

"Man, I hate these things," said Ashley, gesturing at the elevator in general. "Whenever I'm in one, I have visions of it breaking down and plummeting to the first level, killing anyone inside on impact."

"Glad to have you on the team, Chief," said Kaidan wryly.

"Don't worry, hardly anything breaks around here," said Garrus. "The Keepers do a good job at maintaining the Citadel. They seem to know when something's in danger of breaking, and fix it before anything happens."

"What are the Keepers?" asked Ashley, her curiosity winning out over her dislike of turians.

"Nobody really knows. They were here when the asari and the salarians first discovered the Citadel. We _think_ the Protheans engineered them to do cleaning and maintenance, but we can't be sure. Whenever one's captured or restrained, it self-destructs. Studying them, other than by visual observation, is impossible. We don't even know how many there are. There may be hundreds, or only a handful. You'll know when you see one, though. They look like large insects with long necks and small heads."

"So, let me get this right," said Ellie. "Everybody who lives on the Citadel does so not knowing how it works, how it was built or how it's maintained. Stuff like life support and gravity control is all managed by these... Keepers?"

"No, life support and all other important functions are regulated by the Citadel's internal computer core. Which we don't have access to, but the Keepers do."

"And you don't find _any_ of this disturbing?"

"Disturbing in what way? Historians agree that the Citadel was built by the Protheans. Our technology is based on Prothean technology, so where's the harm in using the station they no longer have any use for?"

"There's an ancient human story called _The Odyssey_, in which a man named Odysseus is making his voyage home by sea. He and his crew come to an island inhabited by tame animals and a beautiful woman named Circe. She invites the crew into her mansion, and offers them a feast. But the food is drugged, and after eating and consuming much wine, they pass out. When they are helpless, Circe turns them all into swine."

"Are all humans so fatalistic?"

"Only the women," said Kaidan, which probably would have resulted in Ashley elbowing him in the stomach, had he not been her superior officer. Luckily, the elevator stopped, and the door opened.

"Commander Shepard," said Garrus, "welcome to Citadel Security. Try not to trip over the red tape as you step out of the elevator."

Stepping out onto the floor, she looked around at the bustling hub. C-Sec agents were everywhere, distinguishable by the headsets they wore. Though the majority of the officers were turian, there were a few salarians too, and even an asari or two. Human officers peppered their ranks as well, though nowhere as numerous as the turians. Civilians also loitered around, talking to officers or waited to be talked to, whilst a few criminals were led around in restraints. This place was almost the complete opposite of the quiet, deferential Council Chambers.

"Impressive," said Kaidan appreciatively.

"That's what I thought at first, too," said Garrus. "The rose-tinted glasses they issue you with at the front door don't really last for long, though."

"You don't seem to like your job, Garrus," Ellie said. "Why do you bother to stay in a job you hate?"

"I don't hate my job," he said, sounding surprised. "I never meant to give that impression. No, I love my job. It's the system I hate. You can catch a guy red-handed, and his lawyer will have him out within days. Or perhaps the evidence doesn't hold up. Or maybe there's some obscure rule that prevents the criminal from being held or punished. I've seen too many guilty men go free to have much faith in the system anymore. Just look at Saren. We know he's guilty, but he gets away with murder because he's a Spectre. And if your ship hadn't arrived at Eden Prime so quickly, nobody would be any the wiser."

"How long have you worked here?" Kaidan asked.

"A few years. Look, over there. That's Wrex."

Ellie looked at the krogan Garrus indicated. Then she looked again. She had never seen a real, live krogan before. They were... intimidating, to say the least. Wrex wasn't much taller than Kaidan, but he had bulk, and she was certain it was all muscle. He could probably snap her spine in two just by squeezing his hand... and judging by the long, deep scars that ran across his face, he'd probably snapped a spine or two in his time.

The krogan was being spoken to by a human C-Sec officer, with two turians flanking him and looking ready to use the weapons they were holding if Wrex even so much as put a foot out of place. As unobtrusively as possible, she approached, concentrating blocking out the plethora of conversations around her to focus on the one involving Wrex.

"Look, just stay away from Fist, Wrex," said the human officer.

"Fist won't be able to hide forever," the krogan replied in a deep voice. "And when I find him, a scrawny kid like you isn't going to stop me."

"You know, I could just hold you indefinitely for making threats."

"Go ahead, kid. Krogans live _long_ lives. If I don't get Fist, time will."

"Just... get out of here," said the officer in exasperation. "We'll be keeping an eye on you."

As the officers left, Ellie approached the mercenary. He turned around and gave her a once-over, taking in her uniform and her guns, and seemingly unimpressed with either.

"Wanna watch where you're going, human. I almost stepped on you there," he said.

"You're Wrex, right?" she asked.

"That's right. Urdnot Wrex. If you've got a job for me, there are better places to discuss it than C-Sec HQ, if you get my meaning."

"Actually, I'd like to talk to you about your current job. If you have a moment."

"Sure. Killing Fist can wait for another few minutes. You going to tell me why the Alliance's top marines are interested in my job?" She must have looked surprised, because he gave a quiet, throaty chuckle. "Yeah, it says N7 on your uniform, and I get around a lot. Met a couple of N7s, once. You guys are like the equivalent of the salarian STG or asari commandos, right?"

"We're not quite that specialised," she said. "But yeah, you've got the gist of it. As for why I'm interested in your job... I want to find Fist. He's got something I need."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Intel."

"Hmm. Alright, I'll help you get your intel. What's your name, kid?"

"Shepard. Commander Shepard, of the Normandy. And this is Lieutenant Alenko, Chief Williams, and Garrus Vakarian," she said, indicating her companions by turn.

"I'm not big on working with C-Sec," he said, eyeing Garrus suspiciously.

"What a coincidence. I'm not big on working with mercenaries," said Garrus.

"And I'm not big on Saren walking free whilst two members of my crew and a good portion of a human colony lie dead," she said. "But if we're going to bring Saren down, we need to work together. Afterwards, everyone can go their separate ways and forget about any of this."

With both Wrex and Garrus looking a little more contrite, she called up a schematic of the area on her omni-tool then walked over to a nearby transit terminal to request a shuttle. She was determined to see this mission through to the end, and if that meant forcing humans and krogans and turians to work together, then so be it. And who knew, maybe she'd even be able to build some of those bridges that Doctor Chakwas spoke of in the process.


	6. The Lion's Den

Deus Ex Machina

_6. The Lion's Den_

The tension in the transit shuttle was tangible. Wedged between Wrex and Garrus, Ashley managed to make it look like it was her choice to sit stiffly staring ahead into space. Wrex, meanwhile, was looking out of the window, down on the throngs of people walking on the boulevards below, and Garrus was inspecting his rifle with a vengeance. The salarian driver picked up on the mood, too. He kept looking over his shoulder into the back of the shuttle, and every time he did the vehicle dipped a little.

"Say, you guys are kitted out pretty good," said the driver nervously. "Is something going down?"

"That's official C-Sec business," said Garrus.

"Right. Just forget I asked. Do me a favour, though. My brother works behind the bar in Chora's Den... try not to shoot him, okay?"

"I told you we should have set down at the Market," Wrex grunted.

"Speed is of the essence, here," said Eloise. "The quarian's life could be in danger."

"What quarian? I thought you wanted intel."

"Intel on the whereabouts of a quarian who has information that could prove Saren has gone rogue."

"Huh. If you ask me, Saren was born rogue."

"You've met him before?" she asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Did a job for him once. But that's a story for another time. One job at a time, eh?"

"Speaking of which, how did you come to be in the Shadow Broker's employ? Do you know him?"

"No, nobody knows the Shadow Broker. I was hired by an agent. I heard that the Shadow Broker even has agents for his agents. Like Fist. He had a good thing going, before he ruined it by jumping into bed with Saren."

"I can't believe we have to go back to that dump. It's degrading," said Ashley.

"The Chief wasn't impressed with the asari dancers," Ellie explained as Kaidan rolled his eyes.

"It just seems so... cheap. I mean, if I knew I was going to live for a thousand years, and that stuff like that might one day come back to haunt me, I'd be a little more circumspect."

"The asari see it a different way," Garrus explained. "Their Maiden years, their first three hundred years of life, are the equivalent of other races' rebellious teens."

"I can't imagine my rebellious teens lasting three hundred years," said Kaidan wryly.

"Oh?" Ashley grinned. "I take it you had a pretty wild time, Lieutenant?"

"Hardly. My time was spent undertaking biotic training at Jump Zero. It wasn't the best time of my life. How about you? I can just imagine a young Ashley Williams raising hell in her family home."

"Nah. I was a good girl. Worst I ever did was skip Sunday School a couple of times. Then I got caught, and never did it again. I suppose I'm making up for it now. What about you, Commander? What did you get upto during your troublesome teens?"

"Oh, you know... joined a gang, built weapons, smuggled drugs, hacked, cracked and committed larceny. The usual," she said flippantly.

"I knew I'd like you, Shepard," said Wrex.

"You're pulling my leg... right?" said Ashley, a look of disbelief on her face.

"I'm deadly serious."

"You were a petty criminal?"

"There was nothing petty about it, thank you very much. As it turns out, I was an excellent hacker, but a rubbish criminal. I wasn't big on the violence."

"You didn't like violence, so you joined the military?" Garrus pondered aloud.

"There's violence, and then there's violence. For the military, violence is a last resort. To criminal gangs, it's the first. And gangs don't care who they hurt. The words 'innocents' and 'civilians' have no meaning to them. Or if they do, they're synonymous with 'prey'. The military... it has codes and morals. If I get blood on my hands, I know it's for a damn good reason."

"I figured you'd be one of those 'military's in the family' types," said Ashley. "I mean, it's like serving comes naturally to you."

"I doubt it's in my family," she said with a shrug. "I never had one. Abandoned as a baby, raised in an orphanage. If my family ever served in the military, their DNA records would have been on file, and my parents could have been traced. It's more likely that my mother was a prostitute and my father a criminal. Best thing I ever did was join the military, and I'm in it for life."

"That's um... what I mean is, I didn't mean to bring up.. well..." The Chief was all but squirming in her seat, which amused Ellie. Everybody assumed that her lack of family was a touchy subject to be avoided. It wasn't. Even as a child she had been nonchalant about it, and she didn't feel she was any poorer for not having parents while growing up. Sure, if she'd had loving parents, her life would be very different. But she wouldn't be the person she was now, and she quite liked the person she was now. It had taken a lot of hard work and moralising to get where she was, but she wouldn't give it up for the world.

"Here you go," said the driver, setting the transit shuttle down gently. "Chora's Den. Have a nice day, and remember what I said about my brother."

"Thanks," she said as her team climbed out of the vehicle. It felt good to be in a team of five again. Like a homecoming, of sorts. Marine units worked in groups of five, and the four men of her former team had been her best friends for the past four years.

"I hope Harkin's not still there," said Williams as she stepped out into the corridor leading to the club.

As soon as the Chief put one foot around the corner, Eloise felt a chill up her spine as goosebumps rose over her flesh beneath her armour. In the same instant, she realised something was wrong; the music, so loud before with the bass line beating out a steady tattoo, was now absent. Without a second thought, she reached out to grab Ashley's armour and pulled the woman backwards, where they both fell and went sprawling into a pile. A split second later, a bullet impacted the wall behind them at head-height.

"Someone's tipped Fist off," said Wrex angrily, raising his assault rifle. Several more shots were fired from the corridor, and Ellie quickly glanced around the area as she hauled herself to her feet and recovered her pistol from the floor where it had fallen from her hand.

"Wrex, Williams, lay down cover fire. I'm going to move behind that crate over there," she said, nodding at a nearby container on the opposite side of the corridor. "Kaidan, Garrus, do you think you can make it around the other side of the corridor, if the three of us draw their attention?"

"No problem, Shepard," said Garrus confidently.

"Aye, Commander," Kaidan agreed.

"Alright. Wrex, Williams, start firing."

As soon as Wrex and Ashley leant around the side of the wall to open fire, she took a deep breath and launched herself into the corridor, reaching out with her arm to roll over her shoulder in a rolling break-fall. Bullets whizzed past her, and one even went through her shield, but it missed her leg by mere inches, and she slid along the floor behind the safety of the crate.

"Kaidan, Garrus, go!" she called, and activated her omni-tool to overload her enemy's weapons.

There ensued a hurried dash to cover by Kaidan and Garrus, followed by another volley of shots as the shooters outside the club switched to alternative weapons. Ellie was forced to duck behind cover once more to allow her weapon's heat sink to recover, but the diversion had worked; Kaidan and Garrus had made it around the corridor, and their enemies were now flanked. One by one the gunmen fell, and when no more shots were returned, she slowly approached their position, her pistol raised and ready to fire. With her booted foot she nudged one of the bodies, but it didn't respond.

"I'm sorry, Commander," said Ashley as she approached with guilt written over her face. "I should have had my mind on the job. Thanks for hauling my ass back before they put a bullet in my head."

"Fast reflexes, Shepard," said Wrex appreciatively.

"Thank the good folks of the N7 program," she replied. "Is anybody hurt?"

"I think we're all good, Commander," said Kaidan.

"Alright," she said, loading a new ammo set into her gun. "Here's how I want it to happen. From what I remember of that place, there's three ways they can hit us; from either side of the bar, or from the stage above it. I'm going to toss a couple of tech mines in there, establish a damping field to suppress their abilities. Williams, you go left, Wrex, go right. Find cover then take out anything that shoots. Garrus, go with Williams, Kaidan, with Wrex. I'm going to pick off anybody on that high dance floor. Since there's no music, I'm going to assume that the place has been shut down, but be mindful that there may still be civilians around. Only shoot to kill when you _know_ your opponent has a gun. Clear?"

"Aye, Commander," said Williams, and everyone else nodded.

"Good. Now, let's do this. And remember, we need Fist alive and coherent."

From her belt she took two tech mines and configured them to send out damping fields. Standing with her back against the wall beside the door, she nodded at Kaidan, who was standing opposite her. He reached out and hit the door entry button, and as soon as the doors slid back she threw the mines inside, then mentally counted to five.

"Go," she said.

Ashley and Wrex moved forward into the room, taking cover behind furniture. Kaidan and Garrus followed, and she entered last, ducking behind an over-turned table as shot rang out from across the room. For a time she thought of nothing but shooting, ducking for cover while her pistol's heat sink recovered, then shooting again. Bullets ricocheted around the room, the walls quickly becoming peppered with tiny impact craters. No doubt this would take the Keepers days to clean up, but she didn't care. Only her mission was important. She had to find the quarian before harm could befall her.

One gunman went flying across the room; Kaidan's handiwork. More poured out from a door at the back of the room, and she was willing to bet anything that Fist was back there. And he seemed to have no shortage of men to protect him. But how had he managed to prepare so quickly? She could come up with only one explanation; somebody in C-Sec had tipped him off. That meant somebody in C-Sec was working for Saren, or at least being paid to provide info to a third party. Maybe it was Harkin. Or maybe it was one of the many officers she'd seen earlier at the Academy. Or perhaps it was all of them. Maybe every C-Sec officer except Garrus was working secretly for Saren. Maybe Garrus' desire to bring the Spectre down was just an elaborate act, and _he_ was working for Saren too.

She knew that she had crossed the line from caution into paranoia. The down side of years of military service was that you tended to see enemies everywhere. It could drive you crazy if you couldn't control it. That's what your team was for. You knew that your team were the people you could trust more than anybody else in the galaxy. Your team always had your back, and you always had theirs.

_Except on Akuze._

She shook her head, clearing away the thoughts, ridding herself of the memory of Akuze. Akuze was a long time ago. Nobody would ever know what had happened there. Nobody would never know what she had done, how she had failed her team so badly.

"I think that's all of them, Commander."

Kaidan's voice brought her back to reality, and she realised he was right. The room was empty, except for her team. Fist had gone for quantity when he should have gone for quality. Ignoring the bodies strewn over the floor, except to step over them, she gestured for everybody to follow her towards the door where the gunmen had entered from. She tapped the door control button, and found herself facing two men with pistols and terrified expressions on their faces.

"Don't come any closer or we'll shoot!" said one of them, his gun waving around erratically. The men weren't dressed like the other gunmen; her mind immediately registered them as civilians. Civilians who had been given guns and tossed out for the lions.

"You're outnumbered and out-gunned," she said calmly. "I think it's time you reconsidered your employment prospects."

"Yeah... maybe you're right," said the second man. "Fist doesn't pay us enough for this."

"Get out of here, and don't come back."

The men ran off gratefully without a backwards glance. Dismissing them from her mind, Ellie continued forward until she came to another door that opened at her touch. Inside she found a room that was a dead end; no other doors led in or out, and the room had no windows either. For a moment she thought that she was too late, that Fist had already fled. Then she picked up the sound of rapid, frightened breathing. Following it with her gun held out ready to shoot, she stepped further into the room and found a man cowering behind a table.

"Fist, I presume?" she said.

"Don't hurt me! I... I never wanted any of this to happen."

"I don't give a damn about you. But you _will_ tell me where the quarian is."

"Are you crazy?" he asked, standing up from behind the table. "I tell you that, Saren will kill me!"

"Saren isn't here right now. I am."

"Yeah, but you're Alliance Military. I know how it works. You're not allowed to shoot me unless I'm pointing a gun at you. And as you can see, I'm unarmed."

"Actually, I'm not allowed to shoot you _with lethal force._ But if I shot you in the foot, or the arm, for example... that's an acceptable casualty. Or I could simply take you back to my ship and let you rot in the brig. On the other hand, if you tell me where the quarian is, and she has the information that I think she does, then Saren will be stripped of his Spectre rights. He won't be allowed back to the station, and he won't be able to touch you."

"I... I see your point," he said reluctantly. "Alright, but I want your word that you won't let Saren hurt me."

"You got it."

"I sent the quarian to a quiet corridor behind the Markets. I told her the Shadow Broker's men would meet her there. But it's Saren's men who are going to show."

"When?"

"A few minutes. If you're quick, you might catch up to her in time."

"Come on, let's go," she said, turning to leave.

There was a loud shot, and for a moment she froze, expecting to feel a bullet in her back. When the anticipated pain didn't arrive, she spun around to find Fist lying on the floor in a pool of blood, with Wrex standing over him, shotgun in hand. A heartbeat later, Kaidan and Ashley's weapons came up, pointed straight towards the krogan's head.

"Why did you do that?" asked Garrus angrily. He looked like he wanted to use his own weapon on Wrex.

"I was hired to kill him, and I never leave a job unfinished," Wrex replied calmly.

"We _don't_ shoot unarmed people," Ellie hissed, wishing she dared to take the weapon from his hands.

"I find that's the best time to shoot them, at least where people like Fist are concerned. He had it coming, Shepard. He was scum."

"But I had an..."

"Look, Shepard, we can stand around debating this all day, but your quarian probably doesn't have that much time. If you wanna save her, you'll need to move fast."

"He's right, Commander," said Kaidan, lowering his weapon.

"Fine. But you're coming with us, Wrex. You can help us save the quarian."

"No problem, Shepard. I like how you attract masses of gun-wielding idiots. Gives me some practise."

"Commander," said Ashley, browsing through a data pad she'd recovered from Fist's body. "We should probably keep hold of this. Seems like Fist's had his hands in a lot of shady dealings around here. There's a few names on this list that would raise eyebrows. And Harkin's is just one of them."

"Keep it safe, Chief," she replied, gesturing for everyone to follow her out of the room. "Garrus, how far is it to the Markets from here?"

"Not far. I think I know the corridor Fist spoke of. It's sort of a back entrance that nobody really uses anymore."

"Good. Lead the way, and quickly."

o - o - o - o - o

The corridor was dark, the lighting kept purposely dim because very few people ever came this way. By the time Eloise and her team arrived, their boots clattering loudly as they jogged towards their goal, the corridor had seen more people in a few short minutes than it had in the entire previous week. Flies were unheard of in the largely clean, sterile environment of the Citadel. But had there been a fly on the wall, and had it been on the wall for some moments, it would have seen several interesting things.

It would have seen a lone woman enter the corridor, glancing nervously over her shoulder. Her clothes were dark, in shades of deep purple, blue and black. Her face was obscured by a tinted mask that connected to the seal around her self-contained suit. The only air breaching the suit was that which was inhaled through the filter of her breathing mask, purified, stripped of all contaminants before being allowed to pass through to her lungs.

It would have seen several turians approach the woman, armed and strolling arrogantly like a pack of predators around their prey, knowing that there was no need to rush for the kill. Words were exchanged, and though to a fly they would have been incomprehensible, they amounted to the woman demanding to know where a man named Shadow Broker was. This wasn't part of the agreement, she claimed. Relax, said the leader of the newcomers. Then he drew his weapon.

It would have seen another group arrive, also heavily armed. More words passed between the two groups, and conflict quickly broke out. Shots were fired, hits were taken, and in the middle of it all, the lone woman hid behind a stack of crates left by merchants too lazy to dispose of them properly. Such crates might even have attracted the attention of a fly, had there been any on the Citadel.

Eventually, it would have seen the group of turians overpowered; their bodies lay where they fell, unmoving. The lone woman and the group of newcomers exchanged words, then left to converse in a safer environment. A few moments later, the fly would have seen three Keepers appear and begin repairing the damage to the corridor caused by stray bullets and tech mine explosions. But by this point, any fly on the wall would quickly have lost interest, and flown away.

o - o - o - o - o

"Fire-fights in the Wards! Over a dozen men dead! Breaking and entering!"

"Technically, Ambassador, it was just entering," said Eloise.

"I don't give a damn, Commander!" Udina banged his fist down on his desk. He was _fuming_. C-Sec had given him a report on her activities at Chora's Den, and the Council had gotten wind of the... disturbance. Now they were demanding answers of Udina, and Udina was demanding answers of her. Standing to attention, with Kaidan and Williams a pace behind her, she kept her eyes forward, looking into empty air. "This kind of behaviour is _unacceptable_, Commander. We are not in some old Wild West vid. This is not an untamed frontier. We are on the Citadel, at the very heart of galactic civilisation."

"Yes, sir!" she said. What else could you say? Being blunt and honest would simply end with her being court-martialled, and that was the last thing she needed right now, when she was so close to bringing Saren down.

Udina looked past her for a moment, at Garrus, Wrex and the quarian woman who had introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya - or 'Tali', for short - and he did not look pleased to see them. Hardly surprising. No doubt the Ambassador rarely invited aliens back to the Embassy for a tête-à-tête followed by a victory shindig, but she didn't care. He'd put her in charge of the investigation into Saren. He'd put her name forward as a candidate for the Spectres. If he didn't want her dealing with aliens, he should have left her back on Sidon.

"I'm sure the Commander has a good explanation for all of this," said Captain Anderson. So far he had been silent, allowing Udina to vent his anger.

"Oh, I'm sure, Captain. Very well, Shepard, let's hear it."

"Sir, following your advice I spoke to the former C-Sec officer, Harkin. He advised where I could find Garrus, and we learnt that the quarian with us here has information linking Saren to the geth. It was necessary to use force to locate where she was, because Saren's men were on the verge of terminating her."

"Is that correct, miss... ah..." said Udina, at a loss for a title to use on the quarian.

"Tali. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya," she said. "And yes, it is correct."

"Why don't you tell us what you've learnt, Tali'Zorah," said Captain Anderson gently. Doctor Chakwas was right, Ellie realised; Anderson _was_ a good man.

"Of course," said Tali. Her voice had an almost synthetic quality to it that Ellie found fascinating, though it was probably due to the fact that the quarian was forced to speak through her breathing mask. "I left the Flotilla some time ago, to start my pilgrimage."

"Your what?" Ellie interrupted, ignoring the dark look from Udina. She was too interested in the strange young woman to care. Humans rarely encountered quarians, and they were one of the species not covered by her special training at Arcturus.

"When a quarian comes of age, they must leave the Migrant Fleet to search for something of value to take back to our people," said Tali. "It can be anything from the location of a new, resource-rich planet, to new technology, or a new ship. It proves that we can contribute to our people, and won't be a burden to them. During my travels, I heard reports of the geth, and grew suspicious. The geth haven't ventured beyond the Veil in some two-hundred years, and I wanted to know what had prompted this change. I tracked a geth patrol, waited for one of their number to leave its unit, then disabled it and recovered its memory core."

"That must have been difficult," said Anderson, a hint of disbelief in his voice. "I thought the geth fried their memory cores when they died, as a defence mechanism."

"My people created the geth," said Tali. "We know them better than anyone. If you're quick, careful and lucky, it's possible to save some caches of data. In this case, I was able to salvage something from the geth's audio banks. Listen."

The quarian activated her omni-tool, and a familiar voice spoke up.

_"Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."_ Ellie recognised the voice immediately. It was Saren.

"I wonder what the Conduit is," she mused aloud.

"Probably something to do with the beacon," Anderson speculated. "Maybe a piece of Prothean tech."

"Wait," said Tali, fast-forwarding the recording. "There is more."

_"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."_ This second voice was unfamiliar, but it was clearly the voice of a woman. It sent chills up Ellie's spine to hear it.

"What are the Reapers?" Udina asked Tali.

"They were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. They hunted the Protheans to extinction. At least, that's what the geth I salvaged this core from believed."

"I understand my vision now," said Ellie, feeling the chill on her spine turn to full-blown goosebumps all over her flesh. "The beacon... the vision it gave me was of the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers. It was a warning."

"The geth revere the Reapers as gods," said Tali worriedly. "And now Saren believes he can bring them back."

"The Council is just going to love this," said Udina.

"But at least these audio files prove that Saren is a traitor," said Anderson. "Now they can't deny that he's gone rogue. We have to get this to them straight away."

"I'll set up a meeting," said Udina, retreating to a private room.

"Shepard," said Tali nervously, "I'd like to come with you."

"But what about your pilgrimage, Tali?" she replied.

"That's still important to me, of course, but the whole point of the pilgrimage is to prove that we can help our people. How could I return to my people knowing that I left a threat like Saren and the geth remain free? He is a threat to the entire galaxy. My pilgrimage can wait."

Ellie cocked an eyebrow at Anderson, who simply nodded.

"Alright, Tali. It'll be good to have you along. I'm sure you'll be able to help us a great deal, with your knowledge of the geth."

"Oh, thank you, Shepard! You won't regret this, I swear." Though she couldn't see Tali's face behind her mask, she was sure the woman was wearing a wide smile.

"It's done," said Udina, reappearing. "The Council will see us immediately. They are very interested in our evidence, it seems."

"Good," she replied. "I'll be glad when all of this is over, and Saren is behind bars where he belongs."

o - o - o - o - o

Standing upon the podium in the Council Chambers, Eloise studied the faces of the councillors as they listened to Tali's audio recording. The quarian woman herself seemed pleased to have found evidence to implicate Saren as a traitor. No doubt, in her eyes, this made up, in some tiny way, for the failure of her people in creating the geth.

Other than Tali, Udina and Anderson, Garrus was the only one present for this meeting. When he saw how tired Kaidan and Ashley were, Captain Anderson had ordered them back to the ship for some much-needed sleep. They had protested, of course, but they could hardly disobey a direct order from their captain. Wrex had accompanied Ellie's group as far as the entrance to the Chambers, but had been unwilling to relinquish his weapons, and so was waiting outside for them. He, too, wanted to see Saren taken down a few pegs.

The councillors' faces were stony as they listened to the recording from the recovered geth audio banks. There was little to give away their true feelings, though obviously none of them were pleased about Saren's behaviour.

"This is irrefutable evidence that Saren is a traitor," said the turian councillor at last. "He will be stripped of all his rights as a Spectre."

"I recognise the woman's voice," the asari councillor spoke up. "She is Matriarch Benezia, a powerful biotic amongst my people. No doubt she makes a formiddable ally for Saren."

"I am more interested in these 'Reapers' that the recording mentions," said the salarian. "What do you know about them?"

"Only that the geth believe that the Reapers are gods, and that they wiped out the Protheans fifty thousand years ago," Eloise spoke up.

"The Conduit, mentioned in the recording, must be the key to all of this," Anderson added.

"But where did the Reapers _go_?" asked the turian councillor. "Why did they vanish? How come we've found no trace of their existence? If they were real, we would have found something."

"You didn't believe me about Saren," said Ellie, feeling her anger spike. "And look how that turned out. Don't make the same mistake twice. I'm telling you, the vision I saw, the one given to me by the beacon on Eden Prime, was of the Reapers exterminating the Protheans."

"We do not know Saren's true motives," said the asari councillor. "I highly doubt that Saren would wish to bring about the destruction of our entire civilisations."

"It's more likely that the Reapers are a myth that Saren is using to bend the geth to his will," said the salarian. Ellie couldn't believe what she was hearing. _These _ were the people who led galactic civilisation? How could they be so blind? Even Udina, the ass that he was, was willing to entertain the notion of her visions being true.

"You know that Saren is in the Attican Traverse," said Udina angrily. "Send your fleets him. Apprehend him, and then you will see that we are right."

"The fleets could not track one single man, on the run."

"Citadel fleets could stop the geth from attacking more colonies!"

"Or trigger war with the Terminus Systems," said the turian councillor. "We won't be dragged into a war over a few dozen human colonies."

Ellie felt her fists close of their own accord at the councillor's words. At least now she understood why petitioners of the Council were required to give up their weapons; the urge to shoot them could be overwhelming. And it seemed that she wasn't alone in her thinking.

"I'm fed up of this Council and its anti-human bull-" Udina said, and was cut off by the asari councillor.

"There is another way to stop Saren without fleets or armies," the woman said, subjecting the men beside her to a questioning glance.

"No," said the turian. "It's too soon. Humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres."

"But there is no other way."

The turian councillor nodded grudgingly, as did the salarian.

"Commander Shepard," said the asari. "It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel." Ellie felt her head swimming at the councillor's words. She hadn't honestly thought that she would ever be admitted into the Spectres. Or at least, not for years, and not without another Spectre like Nihlus to hand-walk her through the process.

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen," said the salarian. "Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."

"Spectres are an idea, a symbol, the embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance," the asari woman continued. "They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."

"Spectres bear a great burden," said the turian councillor. "They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defence. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander," the asari smiled. "This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

"We're sending you into the Traverse," said the salarian. "Saren is a fugitive from justice, so you are authorised to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."

"Good luck, Commander," the asari smiled. And then it was over. The councillors left, and Eloise was left standing with her small group, being watched by a plethora of spectators from the galleries above.

"Congratulations, Shepard," said Udina. "Don't screw it up."

"I'm proud of you, Commander," said Anderson, shaking her hand though her mind was in such a daze that she barely registered his words.

"Come with me, Captain," said Udina. "There are some... things... we need to discuss."

The two men left, leaving her alone with Tali and Garrus. In the galleries above, the crowds slowly began to disperse, now that the show was over.

"This is great," said Garrus. "In all my years of working here, I never got to see the Council in session before."

"What happens now, Shepard?" asked Tali.

"Now," she said, as reality came crashing in around her, "I need a stiff glass of whisky."


	7. Messages

Deus Ex Machina

_7. Messages_

_ **Incoming extranet message - top priority**_

_

* * *

_

_[Jonas] Congratulations little sister! From Lieutenant to SPECTRE in 60 seconds... that's got to be some sort of new record! We're back at HQ already, and the mood here is pretty wild. Classes have been cancelled for tonight and tomorrow, so that everyone can celebrate one of our very own N7 marines being made the first human Spectre. I've never seen Arcturus this lively before._

_ [Allerton] Guess what, little sis! The FNGs don't wanna be Anderson anymore, they wanna be __**you**__! How does it feel to have raised the bar to an impossible height? Hope you're happy with yourself - everyone keeps looking at us and I can just __**tell**__ they're thinking "how come you guys haven't made Spectre yet?" LOL!_

_ [Miyazaki] Ignore Allerton, he's being a bitter ass, and he knows it. Know the best part of you being a Spectre? You'll get all the extranet bandwidth you need. Premium service. You're on par with the freaking Councillors now, man! You just need to snap your fingers and bam! you have it. It probably took eight milliseconds for this mailing to reach you. Lowly marines like us, meanwhile, have to put up with the usual lag._

_ [Allerton] Now who's bitter, eh mister pot? Anyway, they haven't replaced you or Alenko yet, so there's still chance for you to give it all up and come back to us. Go on, you knooooow you want to._

_ [Miyazaki] Tell her about Parsons._

_ [Allerton] Oh yeah, they're doubling up your celebration party with Parsons' retirement bash. Bit of a downer for the old guy... don't think Sidon was the blaze of glory he was hoping for, but at least he went out on a successful note. Heard you got a Williams serving with you now... gotta be uncomfortable._

_ [Jonas] You are __**not**__ turning this e-message into a bloody debate about the First Contact War, Allerton. Sorry sis... you're really not missing much here. I expect a lengthy reply with full details about what the Citadel's like._

_ [Allerton] Did you meet any hot, single asari yet?_

_ [Miyazaki] Is it really the biggest station in the galaxy?_

_ [Jonas] You see what I have to put up with? Pleeeeease come back._

_ [Allerton] Hey, we better get going now, sis._

_ [Miyazaki] One of the FNGs has some of that crazy twentieth century music you love so much. Shame you can't be here for your own celebration... you could drink Allerton under the table, it would be just like old times._

_ [Allerton] Hey!_

_ [Jonas] We're proud of you, little sister. Keep fighting the good fight. And never forget who you are. Protect, defend, and serve._

_ [Miyazaki] Peace out._

_ [Allerton] Live fast, die young, little sis. Because the Alliance pensions really suck._

_ [Jonas] Send our thoughts to Alenko for us too, won't you?_

_ - Jonas, Allerton, Miyazaki_

_

* * *

_

_ **Scanned for viruses - 19:26 - Cleared**_

_ The opinions expressed in this email are the sole property of the sender, and do not represent those of the Alliance Military._

_ If you were not the intended recipient of this extra-mail, please delete it immediately. Publishing any part of this email to the public domain will result in prosecution by the Alliance Military._

_ **End of extranet transmission**_


	8. Chain of Command

Deus Ex Machina

_8. Chain of Command_

The door to the embassy opened to admit Udina and Anderson. Eloise quickly wiped away the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes, and closed the extranet-mail on the computer screen. She didn't want her superiors to see humanity's newest Spectre crying over something as innocent as a message.

Events had moved quickly, in the three hours since she had been made a Spectre. News of her accomplishment had quickly spread, and she'd already had a handful of interview requests from various news companies based on the Citadel, as well as a dozen congratulatory messages from prominent members of galactic society, ranging from wealthy business owners to politicians. Everybody wanted to be friends with humanity's first Spectre.

"Shepard," said Udina, oblivious to her emotional state. "I'm glad you're still here. I need to talk to you about a serious matter."

"What is it?" she asked, standing up from her chair.

"As a Spectre, you'll need a ship. As of this moment, command of the Normandy has been transferred to you. She's your ship now, Shepard."

"What? But... Captain, did they even give you a choice about this?"

"It's not about what I want, Shepard. It's about what you need," the Captain replied. "The Normandy is quick and quiet, the perfect ship for a Spectre. I know you'll treat her well."

"I've asked for restocking of the Normandy to be given top priority," said Udina. "You'll be good to go by morning, with enough supplies to last for weeks."

"To be honest, sir, I'm not sure that we _have_ weeks," she said. "If Saren finds the Conduit, we're screwed. Instead of hunting for Saren, we should be hunting for the Conduit. We have to stop the Reapers, and deal with Saren either in the process, or after."

"I'm with the Council on this one, Shepard. I'm not sure the Reapers even exist. And you may not have the luxury of complete freedom. The Alliance will still expect you to perform your duty, where necessary, and I'm sure the Council will have 'top secret' orders for you as well. As it is, we've managed to dig up a couple of leads for you to follow."

"We've lost contact with the colony on Feros, in Attican Beta," Anderson picked up. "There's an ExoGeni research station out there, but not much else. It's troubling that we've lost contact; they used to send regular updates to the Alliance. It could be that the geth have struck there. We've also had reports of geth around Noveria, in the Horse Head Nebula. Could be worth checking out."

"One more thing, Commander," said Udina. "This 'Matriarch Benezia'... we've discovered that she has a daughter, a scientist who specialises in the Protheans. It's not clear whether this daughter has anything to do with Saren's plots, but any information she holds about the Protheans could be valuable either way. Her name is Liara T'Soni, and she was last seen at an archaeological dig site in the Artemis Tau Cluster. We don't know which planet specifically she's on, but it will probably be the one with all the Prothean ruins, so it shouldn't be too hard to find."

"I'll make it my first priority, Ambassador."

"It's your call, Shepard. You'll be the one out there, making the decisions. Now, I'll leave you and Captain Anderson to discuss the minutiae."

The Ambassador left, and she was given the impression that this was the best mood he'd ever been in, probably in his entire life. The only thing that would make him happier would be the Council showing up to offer him a place beside them.

"Captain," she said, sitting down in the chair and leaning back against the desk, "I want you to be honest with me. Was giving up the Normandy your choice, or did they force you to do it?"

"You know, I was in your shoes once, Shepard," he replied, taking a seat beside her. "The Council was considering me for the Spectres."

"Harkin mentioned something about that," she admitted. "He said it went wrong, and you blamed Saren."

"Saren did everything he could to keep me out of the Spectres. He not only sabotaged the mission and blamed me for it going pear-shaped, but he killed a lot of innocent people. The Council just covered it up. My name was stricken from the records, and Saren was free to continue his work. He got the job done, and that's all the Council cared about. Giving up the Normandy wasn't my choice, but ships aren't hard to come by when you're one of the most infamous Captains in the Alliance. I'll get another ship, but you _need_ the Normandy to find Saren."

"Why doesn't anyone believe me about the Reapers and the threat they pose?" she sighed.

"I believe you, Shepard. For Udina, and the Council... it's too much of a leap of faith for them. As far as they're concerned, you hit your head and had a dream. But I have no doubt that if you find Saren, you'll find the Conduit that he mentioned, and you'll gather the evidence you need to prove the threat of the Reapers."

"Well," she said, looking at her watch. "Udina wants me gone in the morning, which means you have about twelve hours to teach me how to captain a ship."

"You'll do fine, Commander," he said, patting her knee. "Just be confident. Your crew will pick up on any fear or apprehension that you show. And don't be afraid to rely on people. I'm not perfect, you're not perfect, and neither of us ever will be. We can't be everywhere at once. You have a good crew; use them. Navigator Pressly will make an excellent XO for you. He's had plenty of experience but he won't go having any wild ideas. He's steady and reliable, and you can trust his judgement. If you've got any concerns, you can speak with Doctor Chakwas; she's a good doctor and a good listener. Joker doesn't need any oversight; just give him a destination, and he'll get you there, even if it means flying through impossible odds. Adams, in Engineering, will make sure the Normandy's systems run smoothly, and Alenko will handle the marine attachment. That sums up your senior officers, and the rest of the crew will follow their orders."

"The responsibility worries me," she admitted. "What happens if I have to make an important decision, and I make the wrong one?"

"You wouldn't be the first person to make a mistake, and you won't be the last. If you need advice, you can always contact me, but ultimately the decisions will have to be yours. I won't be out there with you. I can't tell you what to do with your ship and your crew. We don't always have the luxury of being able to make the decisions we want to make. When you're caught between a rock and a hard place, there's not much you can do except try to stay true to yourself. I'll support any decisions you make, even if others don't. And your position as a Spectre will give you some... immunity, should you have to make hard choices. Just remember who you are, and what you are. You were a marine long before you were a Spectre."

The door chime rang, and Anderson pushed a button on the desk to open it. Garrus walked in and gave the room a brief once-over before approaching the desk.

"Do you have a moment, Shepard?" he asked.

"We'll talk later, Commander," said Anderson, rising from his chair and leaving her alone with Garrus. For a moment the air was still, the birds in the trees by the lakeside singing their perpetual songs beneath the permanent false lighting.

"I'm glad you stopped by," she said, breaking the silence and interrupting the flow of the soothing birdsong. "I wanted to thank you before I left, for all your help in exposing Saren."

"I'm the one who should be thanking you, Shepard. If it wasn't for your investigation, I'd still be tied up in red tape, watching Saren get away with his criminal activities. You've shown me that you can get things done. Your methods are effective... unlike C-Sec. Which is why I've just quit my job."

"You quit your job? Don't you think that's a little drastic? You could try to change the system from within."

"No, the system never changes; only the faces do. Even if I some day made it to Executor, my hands would still be tied with red tape, bound by the rules and regulations of the Council. Laws only apply to the innocent; criminals ignore them, and lawyers twist them into something they shouldn't be. I've been fed up with it for a long time. This was just the final straw."

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked, leaning back in the chair.

"I was hoping to go with you. Saren's still out there, and the Council are sending you after him. I want to finish the job I started. I want to bring Saren to justice. Or your idea of it, whatever that may be."

"What'll you do if I say thanks but no thanks?" She wouldn't; she had already promised Tali she could come along for the ride, and before returning to the Embassy, Wrex had asked to join her too. The krogan seemed to have some sort of history with Saren, and not a good one. He wanted to bring the Spectre down hard, and she'd told him as long as Captain Anderson agreed, he could come with them.

"I've not thought that far ahead. I might get myself a ship and go private. There's a lot of call for private investigators in big companies... gives them a way to spy on their employees and customers without involving the authorities. Or maybe I'll go home and listen to my father tell me how disappointed he is in me... that's always good for a laugh."

"Sounds lovely. I'll tell you what I told Tali and Wrex; you can come, you can help, as long as you can play by Alliance military rules."

"Not a problem, Shepard. And thanks. You won't regret your decision."

"If you've got anything around here to tie up, you'd better do it soon. The Normandy will be leaving tomorrow. If you have any special requirements, other than food, speak to my XO, Navigator Pressly. He'll be happy to accommodate you."

"I'd better go and do some packing," he said, withdrawing from the room with a nod of his head.

Alone again, Eloise switched the computer monitor back on and rested her elbows her the desk, supporting her chin on the palm of one hand as she re-read the extranet messages.

_'I wish you were here with me now, guys,'_ she thought._ 'I'm in way over my head. This feels like too much, too fast, too soon. But what can I do? Say 'no thanks' to being a Spectre? Turn my back on a mass-murderer? Ignore the vision that the Prothean beacon gave me? If I don't stop Saren from bringing the Reapers back, we're all screwed. Not just humans, but everybody. And I'm the only one who truly believes. I'm the only one who can do it._

_ But I sure wish there were a few more familiar faces here to help me.'_

o - o - o - o - o

The woman's voice that blared out over the sound system rose and fell, hitting notes that most humans could only imagine reaching. The words of the song were in Italian, and Eloise couldn't understand them, but she didn't need to. She'd even deactivated the ship's auto-translation, so she could listen to the music in its original language. She could feel the power and the emotion in the voice itself, as it sang one of the lesser-known operas of the nineteenth century.

She picked up her glass and took a small sip of whisky from the tumbler, cooled with ice. Then she took her computer pad and sank down in the large, padded chair, curling her legs up beneath her body. This was Anderson's old room; he had moved his possessions out a couple of hours ago, and she had moved in what little she owned.

The room was far from sumptuous, but it was better than any room she had owned before. There was a desk where she could get her work done, and a bed that was larger than it needed to be. Two large, comfortable chairs, one of which she was curled up in, stood behind a small glass coffee table - no doubt they were intended for the Captain and XO to sit and discuss ship affairs. The best feature of the room was the shower, set inside a smaller room that was almost cupboard-like in proportions. But it was still better than anything the crew would get - they had to settle for sharing two small showers on the crew quarters level.

The door chimed melodically, interrupting the music briefly. Ellie put down her pad, and turned down the music on the sound system.

"Come in," she called.

The door opened to admit Kaidan and Ashley. Unlike her, they were out of uniform, both dressed in their best civilian clothes; Kaidan in a pair of black trousers and a white shirt that provided a stark contrast to his dark eyes and black hair, and Williams wearing grey trousers and a dark green sleeveless shirt that showed off an impressive tan. She had even put on a little makeup.

"Are you sure you don't want to come, Ellie?" said Kaidan. "I hear Flux has some good music."

"Thanks, but you know I can't. I'm the captain now, in spirit, if not in rank. It wouldn't be appropriate. But don't let that stop the two of you from having a great time. And have a drink in memory of Jenkins for me."

"Alright, but if you change your mind, we'll be in Flux."

"We should probably get going, Lieutenant," said Williams. "Everyone's waiting for us."

"Have a good night," Ellie smiled. "And don't let the crew get _too_ drunk. We're leaving at o-seven-hundred and I don't want my crew falling over at their work stations."

"Aye aye, Commander," said Kaidan with a mock salute.

When the pair left, she turned up the volume and picked up her pad, re-reading the extranet mail she'd received earlier from her old team. Reading over their words, she could _hear_ their voices in her head, and it was comforting. They were a familiar thing in a time and place where reality seemed to have been turned on its head.

Three days ago, she'd been a simple lieutenant and a damn good engineer. Now she was a Commander, a Spectre, and the captain of the fastest and newest ship in the Alliance fleet. She would never have imagined this future for herself. But... what if other people _had_? Goosebumps broke out over her skin as she recalled events from the past few years that had seemed strange to her at the time, but now made more sense.

Her induction into the N7 programme. Her 'special' training in dealing with difficult situations. The psychological profiling by Doctor Kay. Had the Alliance been pushing her towards this eventuality all these years, without even telling her? Had her military career been engineered to get her into the Spectres? Was this so important to the Alliance that they would spend six years subtly and covertly manipulating a person into it?

If so, why had the chosen her instead of somebody else? Was it because of Akuze? Was it because she had grown up in the slums of Earth, essentially isolated from galactic events and relatively naive of politics? Was it because she lacked an anti-alien agenda?

"Commander?" Joker's voice was barely audible over the high soprano and full orchestral score, so she turned the music down.

"What are you doing onboard, Joker?" she asked. "I thought you would've gone for Jenkins' memorial drink with the rest of the crew."

"I'm not big on dancing, Commander. I'm sure you can understand."

"You could have gone for the drinks and the company. No need for dancing."

"Yeah. Big, noisy places full of bad music and drunk people. Not really my thing. Anyway, the reason I'm calling is because you've had three incoming requests in the past half hour alone from journalists wanting to interview you. What do you want me to do with them? Leave them hanging?"

"Tell them that my schedule's full up for the next few days. Take some names and tell them I'll contact them myself when I'm free."

"Right you are, Commander."

When Joker closed the comm channel she took another sip of her whisky and turned the music back up. Her respite was short-lived. The door chimed again, and she turned the music down again, calling for whoever was outside to enter.

It was a very cautious Tali'Zorah nar Rayya who poked her head through the door and looked around in confusion before stepping into the room.

"Are you alright, Shepard?" she asked. "I heard screaming, and thought you might be in trouble."

"Oh, that. It's opera. A type of classical Earth music. I'm fine, thanks. What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you would allow me to study your ship's engines. They are remarkable... the biggest engines I have ever seen on a ship this size. Technically, they shouldn't even work. And the drive core... it's revolutionary!"

"I didn't know you were interested in engine design."

"Oh yes. In the Flotilla, our ships are our lives. Almost every quarian has at least some engineering expertise. We buy our ships second-hand and retrofit them where necessary. Your ship's engines wouldn't work on any of ours, but I can see how they might eventually be adapted to work with quarian technology."

"Feel free to study it all you like, as long as it doesn't interfere with the drive core's normal operations."

"Thank you, Commander."

"Didn't you fancy going to Flux with the crew?"

"In my experience, most people aren't very welcoming of quarians. We tend to be met with suspicion at best, and hostility at worst. I suppose other species have a right to be wary; we created the geth, after all. Nobody trusts us much after that."

"Nobody should have to hide who they are, Tali. You shouldn't let the suspicions of others control your life."

"Not everybody is as understanding as you are, Shepard."

"You know, we'll be leaving tomorrow and I don't know how long it will be before we get back. Do you want to join me for a last stroll around the Presidium? You can tell me a little about your people."

"You want to know about quarians?"

"Sure. Most humans have a great propensity for curiosity. I'm no exception to that. I like learning about new things and new people."

"Well... I suppose a short walk can't hurt," said Tali reluctantly.

"Glad to hear it."

She put down her glass and her pad on the table and took her standard Alliance military issue jacket from the wardrobe. Together they left the room and stepped into the elevator.

"Tell me a little about life on the Flotilla," she said, pressing the elevator button for the command level.

"It's always interested," said Tali. "Every day brings sometimes new. We may stay in a system for a few days or even weeks, dependent upon how welcome we are there, but we always move on eventually."

"Doesn't it get lonely, always moving around, never being able to settle down?"

"It does get lonely, but not because of that. There are seventeen million of us in the Migrant Fleet, and each family lives on its own ship, or its own area of a ship. A quarian never knows loneliness until he or she sets out on their pilgrimage. Loneliness that we feel whilst with our families stems from the suits that we have to wear. Even in the largely sterile environment of the Fleet, we cannot take them off."

"Your suit sounds like a prison. No offence."

"None taken," said Tali, as they stepped out of the elevator and made their way to the airlock.

They took the Citadel elevator down from the docking area to the Presidium level and made their way through the C-Sec Academy to the 'outside' area. The sky was still light blue, with false clouds drifting overhead. Denizens of the Citadel still strolled the paths and sat behind the immaculate garden areas. Night, it seemed, was something that never happened here - the pulse of life was steady and continuous.

"When I first got here," said Tali, "C-Sec brought my in for questioning. They seemed to think that I was here for nefarious purposes, and it took hours for me to convince them otherwise."

"In a way, that's good to hear."

"How so?"

"The Alliance really want a seat on the Council, so much so that they try to keep the undesirable, xenophobic individuals amongst us from associating with aliens, in case we offend somebody with our narrow and biased views. That you've had a negative experience with C-Sec goes to show that humans aren't the only species capable of prejudice."

"That is a very... unique way of looking at it."

"Thanks. Tell me... what are you looking for, on your pilgrimage? What do you hope to take back to the Migrant Fleet?"

"A way to destroy the geth," said Tali, her voice surprisingly hard. "I hope to find a way to disable them, so that our people can reclaim our homeworld."

"Why don't you just choose a different planet to settle on?"

"It would not be the same. And the geth would not allow it. They razed our colonies to ashes, and if we try to settle down, to create a home for ourselves, they will attack us again."

"How did your people end up creating the geth in the first place?"

"Accidentally. In the beginning, we built simple robots, to perform monotonous or dangerous tasks. Their programming was simple, but as we began to add new parameters, to allow the geth to perform more advanced tasks, it grew in complexity. The changes made to the programming were so small, so insignificant, that nobody ever thought they would have a larger effect. Then, one day, a geth worker began to ask his quarian supervisor questions; 'Why am I here? What is my purpose? How was I created? Do I have a soul?' As you can imagine, our people panicked. If the geth had become truly sentient, that meant we were essentially using them as slaves. It was only a matter of time before they revolted."

"But your people struck first. That's why the Council refused to step in and help you," she replied, taking a seat on the promenade that overlooked the lake. Tali sat beside her.

"Yes. We had to. We knew that the geth would not be happy in their jobs forever. It was boring and tedious work that provided no mental stimulation that sentient life-forms require. We sent out a command to shut the geth down, but by then it was too late. They adapted much faster than we ever could have anticipated. Some shut down, but most did not. And then they retaliated. Billions of quarians were killed."

"I'm sorry that your people lost their homes and their lives. And I know you probably don't want to hear my opinion on this, but I think what your people did was wrong. You created a new form of life. Instead of seeking to understand it, you tried to destroy it. It was more convenient for your people to destroy the geth and start over, to make new machines to perform hard jobs and make their own lives easier, than it was to parley with your creations, and try to come to an agreement with them."

"That does not sound like a typical military attitude to me, Shepard."

"I'm not a typical soldier."

"Yes, I'm starting to see that. As for your opinion on the geth... perhaps there is no right or wrong choice. If your people had not retaliated when the turians destroyed your ships which were attempting to reactivate mass effect relays, if they had instead opted for diplomacy, perhaps there would have been no conflict. Perhaps your people would not now be treated almost as suspiciously as the quarians by the Council and the other races of the galaxy. It's easy for us to look back, in hindsight, and say 'what if'. But when you're fighting for your survival, you make the decisions that you think are best at the time, and hope they work out. Your species' situation worked out because the Council stepped in to prevent a full-scale war. My species' situation did not work out, because the Council _didn't_ step in."

"Alright, I see your point," Ellie acceded. "The geth are your enemies, and for the moment, they're mine too. But they have never bothered with humans before now. I, unlike the Council, am under no illusions. The Reapers are our true enemies here. As far as we know, they're simply using the geth as shock troops. I'll fight them, and if I can help you find a way to destroy them, I will. But I don't have to like how we got here."

"Thank you, Shepard. That is all I ask."

Eloise looked out over the lake as they fell into a companionable silence. She realised Tali was right, in a way. Humans, through their ignorance, were partially responsible for almost breaking a thousand years of relative galactic peace. But the First Contact War had proven one thing; the Council races were becoming complacent. Apart from the krogans, the turians had never found their equal in battle, and they had sorely underestimated humanity's strength.

Now, the Council were making the same mistake again. They sat here, in their Prothean-built behemoth of a station, and thought they were safe. They thought they were untouchable. They took their peaceful galactic society and cloaked themselves in it, wrapping it around themselves like a soft cocoon. They had their fleets, and they thought that their ships would protect them from harm. But if the Protheans, who had built not only the Citadel but the mass effect relays, which were far beyond the comprehension of even the most brilliant of Salarian minds, if even they could not withstand the destructive might of the Reapers, then what chance did the Council have?


	9. Toys

Deus Ex Machina

_9. Toys_

The C-Sec files on the datapad in front of Eloise were like Goldilocks' porridge; one was hot, one was cold, and the other was in between. She'd requested them from Executor Pallin an hour earlier, and faced with a direct request from a Spectre, he'd been forced to comply, releasing files that would otherwise have been kept confidential.

The first, with not much information in it, was Tali'Zorah's, and they matched the young woman's description of her arrival on the station. Quarians were often seen as opportunistic scavengers, reappropriating other peoples junk and turning it into useful materials. They weren't trusted much by the Council, and the report reflected that. They'd questioned her for several hours about her purpose on the station, which in itself was almost a breach of law as Tali hadn't actually done anything wrong, and then finally been forced to let her go.

For a moment, Ellie ceased to be Commander Eloise Shepard, and instead became the impromptu psychological profiler that the N7 programme had taught her to be, assessing what she knew and could deduce about the quarian. Out of everybody on the ship, Tali was the hardest individual to read, at least physically. A lot could be seen in a face; in facial features you could see anger, hatred, fear, arrogance, composure, compassion, and a whole range of other emotions. This held true for most bipedal humanoids; but the quarian masks, designed to protect their wearers, also shielded their faces from view.

That, in itself, was suggestive of a desire for secrecy. It would have been simple for the quarians to construct clear face masks for their suits, had they wished. The material of the masks was not much different than the visor of her helmet. Introduction of a dye during construction gave a visor a tint, giving the wearer protection against bright light, or filtering out various wavelengths of light. Instead of allowing others to see their faces, however, the quarians hid themselves. Was it for cultural or religious beliefs? Was it a social or political statement? Or were they quarians simply paranoid about their privacy?

Another way of assessing an individual was by listening to their tone of voice, to the stresses and inflections. This was not as accurate as facial-reading; a voice could be altered to give false impressions. A marine commander under fire with his troops, for example, would always sound confident no matter how afraid he felt. As people aged, they learnt to control their voices more and more, to convey what they wanted to consciously express, not what they sub-consciously felt.

Body language was the hardest aspect to read, but it was also the hardest for a subject to control. A face could be schooled to stillness and the voice carefully controlled, but hidden emotions often found a way of manifesting themselves through the body. Small, repetitive movements could indicate nervousness. Arms folded across a chest were indicative of defensiveness. Tension could be seen in taut muscle or a hunched back. The way a person stood could invite an attack or a sexual advance.

The impression that Eloise got of Tali was that the quarian was a very intelligent but inexperienced young woman. She could be defensive at times, especially when discussing her people's history with the geth, but she also seemed very determined to succeed. She was confident in her own skills and abilities, but wary around strangers. All of this was in-keeping with what Tali had told her about life on the Flotilla, about quarian pilgrimages and the geth.

The next file belonged to Wrex, and it spanned several centuries; the krogan was no youngling, it seemed. He'd been to the Citadel several times over the past few hundred years, but not much was known about him. He was a mercenary - as most krogans were - but tended to work on his own or with small groups, rather than with one of the established mercenary companies. As far as C-Sec could tell, he mainly came to the Citadel to look for work. Sometimes that work would be nothing more than escorting goods or providing cover as a bodyguard. Other times, the work involved tracking somebody down, and sometimes eliminating his target. Usually, the latter happened outside of Citadel space, and was therefore out of C-Sec's jurisdiction. Wrex was usually careful to avoid breaking rules within Citadel space. The exception was Fist, but at the request of the newest Spectre, the C-Sec investigation into his death had been dropped.

That was the extent of the record. Again, Ellie considered what _she_ had learnt about Wrex. Krogans didn't seem to use body language to the same extent that humans did. Instead, strength was conveyed through physical aspects; the size of one's body, the strength of one's muscles. These spoke, on a primitive level, of overall health and strength. There was no need for krogan body language to portray this; like the size of antlers on deer, it was immediately obvious to other members of the species who was the biggest and strongest.

Compared to humans, the krogan vocal range appeared more limited. Tone and inflection conveyed less than language, and facial expression seemed also quite limited. All in all, Wrex was an imposing, somewhat intimidating figure. His body was large and his bulk was almost all pure muscle. He was more massive than her by far, and could probably crush her body easily, if he chose. His head was wide, with a large mouth full of small, sharp teeth. His red eyes were large, with cat-like pupils. A large, claw-like scar ran across his face, from the red crest of his head to the right side of his neck. A handful of smaller scares peppered his skin, showing that he was a veteran of combat. Krogans, she knew, displayed their scars with pride, as evidence of their physical prowess. A krogan with scars was experienced; one without scars was considered cowardly.

Wrex himself did not seem like a typically violent krogan, and she had to wonder how much of what she had learnt at Arcturus had been hearsay or propaganda. Every marine was taught that krogans were vicious and violent, without equal in combat. If you had to fight one, you kept your distance. You took him out at range, because if he closed with you, you were screwed. A krogan could overwhelm any individual in close combat, with th exception of another krogan. Most of them were hired for their brute strength, but since Wrex had agreed to help her, he'd shown that he could be cunning as well as strong. Whether he was a typical krogan or an exception to the rule, she had yet to discover.

The last C-Sec file read more like a military personnel file than a security report. In effect, that's what it was; Garrus' C-Sec file, with as much info in it as any Systems Alliance record. All the data was there, ranging from his family history to his seven year military service, to his six year career at C-Sec. Included in the latter was details of the cases he had worked on, the evidence he had gathered, the witnesses he had spoken to. Every caution and commendation was listed, and they painted a marbled picture.

Executor Pallin had noted that, at times, Garrus' reach exceeded his grasp. His youthful exuberance and optimism had, over the years, given way to irritation and impatience at the way the justice system worked. It was what Doctor Kay had termed 'Dreamer's Syndrome' - those who strove to make a situation better or to right a wrong, often became bitter and cynical when their actions ultimately had no effect. It was the equivalent of destroying someone's dreams and taking away their hope, Kay had said. Everybody walked a fine line between aspiration and realism, and those whose aspirations exceeded realistic expectations often struggled to accept reality.

Eloise was emphatically _not_ a dreamer. There was no time for sitting around dreaming of a better life in the orphanage. Dreaming of a better life whilst in a gang was likely to get you killed. In her eyes, there was no 'greater good'. There were only small acts of goodness that could build on each other. She believed in the Alliance, she believed in helping people, but she wasn't naive enough to believe that humanity deserved a place on the Council simply because it existed, nor did she believe that humans were better than other races. She had seen the worst that humanity had to offer; she had seen humans murder and exploit other humans, and now she fought against such things.

Garrus' file matched up with what she had deduced about him so far. He was dedicated to righting injustice, falling just shy of obsession. He spoke only, and his body language matched his verbal cues. Compared to humans, turians conveyed slightly more through their voices than their facial expressions - most likely because facial expression was limited due to their hard, protective facial masks. Like Nihlus, the most expressive part of Garrus' face were his eyes, which always seemed to be watching and assessing.

She would have to handle the former C-Sec officer carefully, she realised. The hope and belief that he had once had in the justice system, he had now transferred to her, believing that she would be able to get justice done. Such pedestals were dangerous things to be placed upon; when somebody put their hope in you, failing to meet their expectations could break them, as she had been broken many years ago by Akuze.

A separate datapad held information that was both vital and useless to her. It was the Council's file on Saren. From it she had learnt that he had a family, had lost a brother in the First Contact War, often sacrificed others to achieve his goals as a Spectre... it was as much about him as he no doubt knew about her. But none of it was important. All it told her was who he _had_ been. It didn't tell her why he was working with the geth, or why he was trying to bring the Reapers back, or even how he had learnt about them. It was an interesting read, but nothing more.

The clock on her desk read 06:57, and she switched off the datapads and made her way to the CIC. There, the command-crew were finishing up their pre-flight checks, and looking remarkably sober. Pressly nodded to her as she passed, and she returned his greeting.

In the cockpit, Joker was prepping the engines and running last minute checks on the tantalus drive core. He barely acknowledged her as he worked, his fingers jumping from screen to screen as he ran various diagnostic tools.

"How does she handle?" Ellie asked.

"Most pilots would struggle compensating for the drive's power," he said nonchalantly. "Luckily, you have me. I can make the Normandy dance for you, Commander. Just don't ask _me_ to do any dancing. This is your first time running a ship, right?"

"That's right."

"Standard procedure is to give the crew a pep talk before embarking on a new mission." He leant over to another console and indicated a button. "Here, the main comm. If you want to say anything, now's the time."

She nodded, and reached down to press the button, wishing she was better at on-the-fly speeches. Public speaking had never been her forté. But, if Anderson was right, the eyes of the galaxy would be on her now. She had to get used to the attention.

"All hands," she said, aiming for casual confidence, "this is Commander Shepard. In a few moments we'll be departing the Citadel, and I don't know how long we'll be gone for. As far as the Council's concerned, we're going to track down and stop a rogue Spectre. But we know better. Our ultimate goal is to find a way to prevent the Reapers from returning. Nobody else believes they're real. Nobody else understands the threat that they pose. It's up to us to do the impossible; it's up to us to save not just humanity, but every race in the galaxy. You're all here because you're the best. Captain Anderson chose every one of us for this, and it's up to us to make him proud. We're going to be alone out there, with no support. All we have is each other. Let's make every moment count."

She released the button and stood up, taking a deep breath.

"How was that?" she asked.

"Do you do weddings, too?"

"Funny. Take us out of here, Joker. Put us on a heading for the Artemis Tau Cluster."

"Aye aye, Commander. Releasing docking clamps. Forward thrusters powering up. Main drive core engaged."

She left him too it and returned to the command information centre, which was abuzz with activity. Computer screens at every terminal were active, flashing up numbers and statistics on everything from engine data to sensor information. The crew monitored everything from navigation to LADAR, analysing data as it appeared on their displays.

"Good speech, Commander," Pressly said, saluting her. "The Captain would be proud. It's a damn shame what they did to him, if you don't mind me saying."

"I know. I don't like it either. But we have a job to do."

"Aye, Commander. We've set a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster, ETA is three hours."

"In the mean time, I'll be down in the cargo hold. I have something to do; please advise me when we reach our destination."

"Yes ma'am," said Pressly, and she made her way to the elevator.

o - o - o - o - o

The cargo hold turned out to be something of a congregational area. Williams was cleaning rifles, Kaidan was talking quietly with the requisitions officer, and Wrex and Garrus were milling around examining the Normandy's secondary systems. Ellie knew she was smiling as she strode towards the Mako and hauled herself up onto its hull, but she couldn't help it. She loved land vehicles in the same way that Joker loved ships. When she had been younger, and part of the Blood-dog Gang, she'd owned a bike, one that she had retro-fitted herself. It had been her pride and joy, built for speed, and her only regret about leaving the gang was that she'd had to leave her bike behind too.

The Mako, with its armoured exterior and six heavy wheels, was a far cry from her bike, but it was still something new for her to play with. She's already memorised the control schematics, and she couldn't wait to try it out. Lifting the access hatch, she peered inside, her stomach turning butterflies as she examined the controls. It still retained its new-vehicle smell; it was a smell that never failed to excite her. It spoke of something that had never been handled before, and was just waiting for somebody to come along and try it out. Had the garage been any larger, she would have started the engine up there and then.

"You know," said Williams, climbing up onto the side of the vehicle beside her, "from the look on your face, I could think this was your Christmas present."

"I can't help it," she smiled. "I love these things. When I get chance, I'll show you how to drive it if you like."

"That'd be great, Commander," said Williams.

"That's all we need. Women drivers," said Kaidan from the ground.

"Ignore him," Ellie said to Ashley. "We don't let Kaidan near vehicles. He once drove an ATV scout rover into a tree."

"That wasn't my fault. The tree appeared out of nowhere."

"Backwards."

"I didn't know the truck was in reverse."

"Consequently, he's not allowed to drive."

"Thanks, Commander. Now everybody knows the emasculating story of how I drove a rover into a tree," he said drily.

"Haha!" Wrex chuckled as he climbed onto the vehicle to peer inside it. "Doesn't look like it was built with krogans in mind, Shepard."

"Yeah... I don't think krogan comfort was part of the design spec. Anyway, we're a few hours out of Artemis Tau, and then we'll have to do a system by system search for the archaeological dig sit. Make yourselves at home, because we've got a long journey ahead of us."

"Aye, Commander," said Williams, returning to her weapons maintenance.

Ellie closed the Mako's hatch and jumped down to the floor. As much as she wanted to stay for the company, she knew her time would be better spent going over the files for Liara T'Soni. If the asari woman _was_ helping her mother and Saren, then it was imperative that the Normandy find her. She just hoped that Liara T'Soni would come along peacefully.

o - o - o - o - o

Several marines were seated in the mess when Ellie arrived for lunch. For the better part of five hours she'd been staring at datapads, hoping to find some connection between Saren, Matriarch Benezia, Liara, the geth and the Reapers. She'd scoured the Council's historical archives for information about the Protheans, but there was surprisingly little available. Matriarch Benezia was a powerful figure in asari politics. Liara T'Soni was a quiet, withdrawn woman who shied away from the spotlight and had spent the past fifty years - almost half of her life - in remote areas, studying the Protheans with a passion.

There should be nothing to link either of them to Saren. There should be nothing to link Saren to the geth, or to the Reapers. The worst part was that she _knew_ there was a link _somewhere_... but its nature eluded her. She had gone over Saren's record with a fine-toothed comb, reviewing what details about his missions were available. There was nothing to suggest contact with the Reapers or the geth. He'd obviously hidden it well from the Council. Finally, her mind had demanded a break, and she'd wandered down to the mess to find something to quiet her stomach.

She took a plate of something that she _hoped_ was mashed potatoes, chicken, peas and gravy, from the cook, and settled herself at the furthest table from the marines. Even as she listened into their conversation about their previous nightly excursion to Flux, she turned her attention to her food, giving the men the illusion of privacy.

For a few minutes she ate and listened to the marines talk. They'd enjoyed Flux. One of them had spent an entire month's wages gambling with nothing to show for it. Another had spent an hour dancing with a _very_ attractive asari, and wished he hadn't needed to be back at the ship so early. Another had won five arm-wrestling matches, only to eventually lose to a krogan.

"Shepard," said Wrex, sitting on the seat opposite her and plonking a tray of food on the table.

"Wrex," she replied.

"Why aren't you sitting with your people?"

"I'm not supposed to fraternise with those beneath my command. It's a military regulation."

"Huh. Sounds like a steaming pile of varren crap to me," he said, poking at the tray with a fork that, in his hand, seemed minute. "What is this stuff, anyway?"

"Various types of vegetables, meat from a bird called 'chicken', and the brown stuff, gravy, is... well, it's just gravy."

"Smells better than the last meal I had on the Citadel," he said. "Nobody caters for krogan. Even in the multi-cultural restaurants you get salarian food, which looks like it's been recently heaved up, asari food, which is just plain foul, or turian food, which is as likely to kill you. Haven't been to the Citadel since you humans started showing up, so I've yet to try your cuisine. Still, if it's got dead stuff in it, it can't be all that bad."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You said you met Saren before. Will you tell me about it?"

"Alright," he said with a shrug. "It was a while ago, a good few years maybe. I knew some mercs out near edge of the Terminus Systems who'd been getting paid well by an employer. I wanted in, so they offered to take me on the job."

"Saren was hiring mercs? That doesn't sound like something a Spectre would do," she said skeptically.

"Who knows what Spectres do? I don't. All I know is, I only saw him once, and I had a bad feeling about him right away. We'd captured a ship, and Saren boarded it. He just walked through the cargo bay, just looking around, ignoring the mercs who called out to him by name. I didn't know he was a Spectre, then. Wouldn't have known it at all, if I hadn't met you. There was something about him... his eyes were cold. Made my guts churn, and I've no shame in admitting it. I decided to get out of there right then, didn't even stick around to get paid."

"What kind of ship was it? And what was Saren looking for?"

"It was a volus freighter. No idea what he wanted with it... he didn't say a word. But my instincts were correct. Within a week, every damn merc who'd been on that job turned up dead. Except me. That's when I knew he was rotten to the core."

"Is that why you wanted to come along and help bring him down?"

"Partially. Truth is, I've been around a long time. Seen a lot, killed most of it. The mercenary life doesn't interest me anymore. I want to do something big. Something that makes a difference. Toyed with the idea of going back to Tuchanka and trying to unite some of the clans, but I don't think they're ready for that yet."

"To what end do you want to unite the clans?" she asked warily. The last time the krogan had been united was during the Krogan Rebellions; they had threatened the entire galaxy.

"We're a dying people, Shepard," said Wrex, and she detected strong undertones of sadness and regret in his voice.

"Because of the genophage?"

"Partially. The genophage makes breeding nearly impossible. It keeps our numbers down, but it's not what's killing us. We're too spread out. Nobody wants to stay in his own system anymore. We hire ourselves out as mercenaries, and most never look back. We need to work together, consolidate our people, let the strongest warriors mate with the few fertile females we have left. Some of my people believe that the ones who survive the genophage are strong. I look at some of the kids being churned out, and all I see is weakness."

"Do you hate the Council, for what they've done to your people?"

"I used to, when I was younger and angrier. Then I realised there's not much point in it. I could kill a hundred salarians or turians, but it wouldn't cure the genophage. I'll give you a piece of advice, though, if you want it."

"Of course," she said.

"Your people need to be careful. They need to watch their backs. You are now where we were once before. The Council... they'll use your people for their own agenda, but as soon as you start to achieve more power than them, they'll turn on you. Maybe in another hundred years, your people will be suffering a genophage of their own."

"They wouldn't do that," she said uncertainly. "Would they?"

"I dunno. You've met the Council. Do you think they're capable of it?"

She didn't reply. From what she'd seen, the Councillors had little love for humans. They'd treated the attack on Eden by the geth as nothing more than somebody else's inconvenience. Nihlus himself had said that the Council saw humans as children, who needed protecting from themselves. What if she stopped the Reapers, only to have the Council turn on her people?

Wrex had given her something new to think about, and she didn't like the thoughts that now flew around her head. But she knew that she couldn't ignore the possibility that one day the Council, out of fear, might turn against humanity. And if that happened... where would her own allegiances lie?


	10. Catch 22

Deus Ex Machina

_10. Catch 22_

There was a palpable air of excitement in the Combat Information Centre. This was the Normandy's first real mission. Eden Prime had been a shakedown, a test of the systems. This was the real deal, and everybody wanted to be the best that they could. Captain Anderson had chosen his crew well.

Eloise observed the ship's progress on the large isometric galaxy map in front of her. The Normandy entered the outer reaches of the Knossos system, and, ignoring the gas-giant on the periphery of the system, travelled at sub-light speed to the second planet. From her position at the rear of the room and elevated above the crew, which was a turian design feature and contrary to usual Alliance tactical layouts, she could see everything; engineers scanned the planet, geologists and physicists analysed the incoming readings, navigation crew extrapolated the co-ordinates for the next planetary scan - the crew and the ship were a well-oiled machine.

"Commander," said Joker over the comm.. "There's a mining colony in this system, called Therum, which is known to have Prothean ruins on it."

"Is it the only planet in this system to have ruins?"

"Not sure, Commander. All the planets have been surveyed, but it was quite a while ago. Our sensors are better than any antiquated science vessel's... previous surveys could have missed ruins, especially if they're in a state of extreme decay."

"Armeni shows no signs of any Prothean ruins, Commander," said Pressly, looking up from his computer screen. "Just some old catacombs beneath the surface."

"Catacombs, huh? What's inside them?"

"Nobody knows. The Council won't let anybody into them, because it's a grave site. All we know is that they don't match Prothean construction."

"Two hundred years ago, we thought we were the only intelligent species in the universe. Funny how things turn out, isn't it?"

"Hilarious, Commander," said Pressly, in a tone that suggested it was anything but.

"What's the next planet called?"

"Zakros. It's described in the database as 'a frozen wasteland of ice and hydrocarbon slush. Doesn't sound like somewhere the Protheans would build."

"Better scan it anyway. Just because it's like that now doesn't mean it always was. Take us in, Joker."

"Aye, Commander."

On the isometric screen, the ship described an orbit around the third planet, and the scans resumed once more. It quickly became obvious that Zakros was nothing more than it seemed. There were no Protheans ruins there, so she ordered scans of Phaistos, to rule it out, before eventually letting Joker set a course for the one planet known to have Prothean ruins on its surface; Therum.

She stepped down from the podium and the galaxy map automatically closed behind her.

"What's Therum like, Pressly?" she asked.

"Hmm," he said, studying the screen in front of him. "I don't envy you, Commander. 'A lifeless, desert-like world of bare rock with a molten structure, prone to tectonic activity, average temperature fifty-nine Celsius during a day cycle lasting approximately twenty-eight hours.' Those Protheans sure knew how to pick 'em."

"Great." She tapped her omni-tool, activating the ship's internal comm.. "Kaidan, grab Wrex and meet me in the cargo hold. We're going planet-side."

"Copy that, Commander."

Ellie turned over control of the Normandy to Pressly, then hurried down to the elevator. The sooner this mission was over, the better; waiting was a soldier's worst enemy. And she suspected that after a period of time inside a hot metal vehicle in sixty-degree temperatures, a cold shower was quickly going to take pole position on her list of priorities.

Ellie climbed into the Mako, followed by Wrex and then Kaidan. As her friend closed and locked the hatch, she took the driver's seat and buckled herself in using the chest restraints. She indicated for Wrex to take a seat at the vehicle's mass-effect cannon, which left Kaidan to handle the machine gun.

She switched the engine on, and the oppressive darkness gave way to the light of digital readouts. When she flipped a switch, comm. traffic from the Normandy was diverted to the Mako, allowing her to communicate with the ship. Then she pulled on her helmet, fixing the air seals in place. Volcanic activity often produced localised expulsion of sulphur dioxide, and she didn't fancy getting a lungful of the stuff if she needed to do any EVA.

"What am I supposed to do with this thing, Shepard?" Wrex asked, waving a hand at all the controls in front of him.

"The pad on your right is for aiming the cannon. The red button fires. It won't let you shoot in a confined space, though, so don't worry about accidentally blowing us and the ship up."

"Ground team, we're approaching the drop-point," said Joker over the communicator.

"Set the Normandy to automatically release the Mako's wheel locks when you're in position, Joker," she replied.

"Copy that. Descending to drop altitude. And you're away in five... four... three... two... one..."

The garage door opened and the Mako slid forward. The first thing Ellie saw, through the small reinforced window was the dark clouds of the open sky. The vehicle cleared the bay and began a free-fall towards the ground. Ellie activated the eezo core, which encouraged the vehicle to fall the right way. A topographic map appeared on her console, showing the relief and features of the land below her. Meanwhile, the Mako's onboard computer used measurements of its velocity, wind speed and external gravity to calculate when the descent thrusters needed to be engaged. When her screen indicated the time was right, she fired the thrusters, and the free-fall began to slow.

"Touch-down in three seconds. Brace yourselves," she shouted above the various auditory warnings that the computer was spilling out.

The landing itself was not as bad as she had imagined; the Mako's suspension absorbed the shock of the impact, jarring her slightly but otherwise causing no discomfort. As the armoured vehicle slid along the ground, she engaged the driving system and applied pressure to the brakes.

"Uh, Ellie," said Kaidan, staring her computer screen.

"I see it," she said, keeping one eye on the sinuous orange line on her topographic map - denoting an open river of lava - as she turned the Mako and applied as much pressure to the brakes as she dared. The vehicle screeched to a halt a metre away from the lava flow, and Kaidan wiped away a bead of sweat that was trickling down his forehead. "See, no problem," she smiled. "Everybody okay?"

"Have we moved yet?" said Wrex. "I thought I felt something back there, but it might have been my imagination."

"Let's just get this over with," said Kaidan. "Your driving makes me nervous."

"And _your_ driving makes the rest of the _military_ nervous."

"She drives like a lunatic," Kaidan said in a faked whisper to Wrex.

"Nonsense. My driving's fine," she said, putting the Mako into gear and pushing the accelerator with her foot. The vehicle sprang forward, steadily churning its way across the bare loose rock.

"Commander," said Joker, his voice muffled over the comm. by the atmosphere between them and the ship. "We're picking up some energy readings a few klicks away from the drop-point. I'm transmitting the co-ordinates now."

The map on her screen changed view to display a target emitting a steady pulse. She brought up an image of the topography between the Mako's location and the target, then set the vehicle into motion again.

Inside the Mako, the temperature was slowly increasing, though the air-con system was helping to keep them all, vehicle including, from overheating. Had she been claustrophobic, Eloise would have found the Mako's interior unbearable. As it was, she was fast wishing for the cold shower she had promised herself after the mission's end.

Her eyes soon adapted to the gloomy interior and the bright computer displays. The Mako rocked gently as it rolled over the bumpy terrain - it was an almost soothing motion, like that of a sea-ship on rolling waves. It was, she realised, like being inside a protective cocoon, but at a price. Yes, the Mako gave them speed, protection and fire-power, but it isolated them from the outside world, from sounds and smells, and prevented them from using their full field of vision. It made one feel safe, but isolated.

The path to their target was relatively straight forward; all she had to do was follow the path of the lava. Then she needed to turn away from it, and head uphill, to the source of the Normandy's readings. Even the uphill stretch of ground was fairly flat. It would pose no problems for the Mako.

"What made you decide to become a mercenary?" she asked Wrex.

"The need for food and credits. The need to survive. I had to get out of my home system," he replied.

"Oh? Why's that?"

"You remember what I was telling you before, about uniting the clans?"

"Yeah."

"I tried it once. It didn't work. So I had to leave."

"What went wrong?"

"I was one of the last born at the end of the war, before the turians used their salarian-made virus on us. Most krogan at that point wanted to continue the fighting. They didn't understand that we just didn't have the numbers anymore. And even if we did, we couldn't replenish our losses fast enough. I led a small clan, and managed to convince them at we needed to concentrate on breeding, just for one generation.

"Slowly, the other clans started coming around. But a few still clung to the old ways. They wanted to continue the war against the turians and the salarians, even if it meant wiping the krogan out. One of the old warlords, Jarrod, asked to meet, and we arranged a Crush-"

"A what?"

"It's a sort of ancient gathering in the place of our ancestors. Violence is forbidden there."

"Sounds like the perfect place for an ambush."

"Jarrod agreed with you. But when your father asks you to a Crush, what else can you do? We talked for a bit, but when it became obvious I was never going to see things his way, he gave the order. His men jumped out of the graves of our ancestors like undead warriors. The men who were loyal to me died quickly. I was injured and fled, but not before I sank my dagger deep into Jarrod's chest."

"Betrayed by your own father?" Kaidan mused. "That's harsh."

"Stuff like this makes me glad I never had parents," she said drily.

A warning siren began to beep, and on the topographical display, a ship descended from the lower atmosphere, racing ahead of them to a place where the natural road narrowed.

"Shit, where did that come from?" she said, not expecting an answer. Instead, she activated the comm. channel to the ship. "Normandy, we have aerial activity down here. What's happening up there?"

"Sorry, Commander," said Pressly. "That ship was already ground-side, lying in wait. We couldn't intercept it fast enough."

"Don't worry about it. Just keep your eyes peeled for any more. Shepard out."

"Commander, the geth ship just dropped something," said Kaidan, looking at the readings on his own console. "My god... we've got incoming, Commander."

"I see it," she said, turning the Mako at a sharp angle to avoid incoming weapons fire. "Return fire, all weapons."

"This should be fun," said Wrex, aiming the cannon and pulling the trigger. Kaidan, meanwhile, began firing the main gun, leaving Eloise free to concentrate on avoiding enemy fire. It was no small feat; though the huge, four-legged walking geth platforms had a slow rate of fire, even a glancing blow was enough to set the vehicle rocking. Several times she had to manoeuvre sharply, and she sent a silent prayer of thanks to anybody listening that it was almost impossible to flip the Mako.

There was a loud explosion outside the vehicle, and for a moment her heart skipped a beat. Had one of the geth structures hit something vital? Then Wrex let out a triumphant laugh.

"Haha, got one!" he said, slapping the console.

"There's still one out there," she said through gritted teeth as she turned the Mako sharply again.

"The gun's useless at this distance," said Kaidan. "It wouldn't hit the broad side of a dreadnought. You're going to have to get in close."

"Hold on to your seats then."

She turned the Mako towards the last geth weapon, and Kaidan began firing the gun as Wrex targeted it with the cannon. The geth fired its weapon, but now that the Mako's nose was towards it, the vehicle's profile was narrower, and she managed to swerve out of the path of the shot. Red warning lights began flickering on her screen as the onboard computer calculated the distance between the Mako and the enemy; 350 metres... 300 metres... 250 metres... 200 metres... not only the warning lights were flashing, but now audible alarms were screaming. At this range there wasn't enough time to dodge the next incoming blow, and the vehicle was hit with a pulse of energy that crackled over the hull, attacking the Mako's shielding. The distance was now 100 metres... she decided to give it another thirty, then turn sharply. The Mako probably couldn't take another hit.

Without warning, the geth platform exploded, and a fireball swept over the Mako, rocking it with the force of the explosion. Ellie put her foot down, turning and breaking when they were clear of the wreckage by a hundred metres.

"That was the most fun I've had in years," said Wrex appreciatively. "Would've preferred to take them out on foot with my own gun, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose."

"Fun?" said Kaidan. "That was a little _too_ close for my liking."

"But your heart's racing and the adrenaline's running, right?"

"Running diagnostics," said Ellie, calling up one of the maintenance programs. "Hmm... looks like one of the external power couplings has been damaged. There should be a replacement in the box under your seat, Kaidan." He reached down and pulled out a heavy box. "Wrex, can you hand me that took kit under your seat?"

She took the tool kit from the krogan and rooted around inside the box for the spare part she needed. Then she opened the hatch and stepped out into the baking sun of Therum. Kaidan stood in the shade cast by the vehicle while Ellie crouched down and began removing one of the external panels.

"Almost as hot as Sidon, isn't it Commander?" said Kaidan.

"Hot?" Wrex scoffed. "If it were fifty degrees warmer I might start feeling a bit uncomfortable. You humans are almost as frail as the turians."

Ellie saw Kaidan roll his eyes, and smiled to herself. She couldn't help liking Wrex; he was no nonsense and straightforward. That was something she could respect in a person, no matter their species.

The panel came away in her hand and she lay on her back to shuffle partially beneath the Mako. Even through her light armour she could feel the heat being radiated by the ground. She worked quickly to remove the damaged coupling, sliding back out into the open air with the part in hand.

"It's shot," she said, and tossed it back into the Mako. She picked up the spare and returned to the underside of the vehicle, using a small welder to fix it in place. Outside, she could hear Wrex telling Kaidan how this, bare, barren, hot place reminded him of Tuchanka, the krogan homeworld. If they had to grow up in conditions like this, it was no wonder they were so resilient.

"We're good to go," she said, sliding out from the Mako for the last time. She let Kaidan and Wrex enter the vehicle first, then climbed into the cool - by comparison - interior, sealing the hatch behind her.

"Think we'll run into any more of those geth things?" Wrex asked hopefully.

"I think we can count on it."

"The real question is," said Kaidan, "are the geth protecting Dr T'soni, or trying to get to her?"

"Either way we get to kill stuff," Wrex shrugged. "Works fine for me."

"Careful what you wish for, Wrex," she said, restarting the Mako's engine. "The universe often has an odd way of providing it."

"Hmph," he grumbled, but said nothing more as they continued their journey into the mountains.

o - o - o - o - o

"Looks like this is the end of the line," said Kaidan glumly as he stared out of the Mako's small front window. Eloise followed his gaze, looking up at the narrow, steep ascent into the hills that was blocked by anti-vehicle obstacles.

"EVA time," she agreed. "Gear up, it's time to head out."

Her pistol went to her hip-holster and she slipped her omni-tool over her hand, settling it on her wrist. Kaidan holstered his own pistol, fastened his omni-tool to his wrist and plugged a biotic amp into the port of the implant on his neck. She knew that Wrex also had biotic abilities, but where his implanted was fitted she didn't know - nor did she care to ask.

She opened the door of the Mako and stepped outside. The visor of her helmet automatically darkened, tinting to protect her eyes from the harsh light. She activated the refrigeration unit of her suit, and a thin layer of cooled liquid began pumping itself around a minute network of tubes in her armour, cooling her skin and absorbing some of the incoming solar radiation. Water returned to the small unit warmer than when it left, but the heat was then transferred to the unit and dissipated, before being pumped back out.

She tapped the communicator button on the side of her helmet. "Normandy, this is ground team, are you receiving?"

"Aye, Commander," said Joker. "Patching you through to Navigator Pressly."

"Pressly here, Commander," said the XO. "We've been monitoring your progress from orbit, and you're less than a klick from the source of the energy readings."

"Copy that. We've hit an obstacle that the Mako can't pass, so we're continuing on foot. Once we've found Dr T'soni we'll bring her out, so stand by for evac on my mark."

"We'll be standing by. Pressly out."

"Looks like the energy readings are coming from underground," she said to her team, examining the topography of the area on her omni-tool's holographic display. "A couple of hundred metres down. At least it'll be cool inside."

"There goes my chance to work on my tan," said Wrex.

"You can take point as a consolation prize. You see anything synthetic, shoot it."

"You sure know how to talk to a krogan, Shepard."

"Kaidan, you've got our six," she said. "Let's move out."

Therum's sun was at its apex as they set out on foot up the steep hill. A warning flashed across Ellie's visor, telling her that the external suit temperature had now exceeded 60°C, but she ignored it. There was nothing she could do except grin and bear it, and hope that the caverns which were the source of the energy readings were much cooler than this.

She felt sweat slicking her skin inside her suit, and the air inside her helmet grew hot and stale, making breathing difficult. Using her omni-tool's scanner, she checked the air around her for sulphur dioxide concentrations, and found them low. With a sigh of relief, she released the seal on her visor, lifting it up and allowing marginally fresher air into her helmet. Kaidan did likewise when she gestured that it was safe; his face was red, and even sweatier than hers.

_Just like old times_, she thought to herself. _Getting hot, dirty and exhausted whilst being shot at by hostiles. Trying to find the best way to beat the odds with little or no backup to pull us out if things go wrong._ She looked ahead, to Wrex. His own helmet had pivoted open, exposing the red and black scarred crest on the top of his head to the sun. _Well, almost like old times._

The hill terminated seven hundred metres from their starting point, opening up into a semi-permanent camp. Several cargo crates were stacked up beside a tall metal support structure, and a little further down the path, which ended in a blind canyon, was the mine entrance.

"Commander, you've got incoming!" Joker's voice was loud over her suit's comm., and he sounded unusually worried. "A geth drop-ship, closing fast."

Even as he spoke, she heard the scream of an approaching engine. Looking up, shielding her eyes with her hand against the harsh glare of the sun, she saw the ship approaching rapidly. The sunlight glinted off its harsh, cold metal exterior. A quick glance at the mine entrance, some two hundred metres away and up a flight of stairs, told her that they'd never make it inside in time. With a mental curse, she gave the military hand-signal for 'take cover' - one hand swept over her head - and pushed Wrex towards the stack of crates when he failed to understand.

A shadow swept over the area as the drop-ship approached overhead. And, as before, it hovered above the ground, allowing geth units to drop out of its open hangar door. They fell to the floor loudly, sending pieces of rock flying. And then all hell broke loose. Even as the drop-ship began its ascent, the geth units it had dropped sprang into action. Highly mobile geth with spring-like bodies and apparently adhesive feet began hopping around the support structure. Other geth with sniper rifles began advancing on their position, while another of the four-legged, towering geth units fired energy pulses from its mouth-like opening.

"Kaidan," she said, tapping her comm. button, "see what you can do about those damned snipers. Wrex, can you keep that bloody giant geth-horse thing occupied?"

"You mean the big thing with legs?"

"That's the one. I need to deal with these hopping things... I can feel them sapping my shields."

"Ready when you are, Commander," said Kaidan.

"Now!"

Wrex stood up from behind the crates, firing his assault rifle at the four-legged geth, then set off running for the cover of another pile of crates stacked not far away. Kaidan activated his omni-tool, selecting a pre-written program designed to overwhelm an enemy's weapons. As he fired it up, Ellie leaned around the side of the crates, taking a second to aim before shooting one of the geth hoppers rapidly three times. It fell from its perch, twitching on the ground before lying still.

She was on the verge of selecting her next target when movement caught her eye. A geth sniper was aiming its rifle at her, and she ducked back behind the cover as a shell clipped the crate right beside her head.

"Shit," she said, listening for a gap in the shooting.

"Noticed that you swear a lot more when you're fighting than when you're not, Shepard," said Wrex over the radio.

"Concentrate more on keeping that thing off our backs, and less on my language."

"I can do both. I'm good at multitasking."

He leant out of his cover again, drawing the geth's weapon fire, and Kaidan used the opportunity to take out one of the geth snipers. A blue glow of energy enveloped his body, a mass-effect barrier that could deflect bullets. Sometimes she envied Kaidan's biotic abilities... until she remembered the price he had paid for them, and still did.

The battle was taking too long. She could be patient, when she wanted, but she hated drawn-out firefights. Decisiveness was the key to victory. Unclipping one of the tech mines from her belt, she programmed it to emit a heat charge, then set the timer for five seconds. She flipped the activation switch, peered over the crates, took aim and hurled the mine at the four-legged geth platform. Then she ducked back down behind cover, bracing herself against the shockwave of the explosion.

When she dared peer around the crates again, little was left. The large geth construct was now an immobile pile of metal. The remaining sniper and two hoppers had been caught within the blast radius, all but incinerated due to their proximity. Satisfied, she dusted her gloves on her pants and holstered her pistol.

"Hmph. Could've left something for me, Shepard," Wrex grumbled. "I had an idea about climbing on the back of that thing, seeing what the view was like from up there."

"I've had more than enough of the geth for one day," said Kaidan. "I say we find Dr. T'soni and get the hell out of here."

"I agree," she said, feeling her body positively _swimming_ with sweat. "Come on, let's get into the shade, and see if we can figure out which side Liara T'soni is really on."

o - o - o - o - o

Far beneath the hills that they'd only just climbed, an elevator rumbled slowly downwards. It was one of the old style elevators, controlled by mechanical parts, rather than mass effect fields. Ellie hadn't been in once of these since she'd left Earth, and it brought back some rather unpleasant memories of time spent running drugs and guns for the Blood-dog Gang.

"You look tense," Kaidan pointed out.

"Just anticipating the next fight," she smiled, and knew that he saw through her lie.

"Don't worry, I don't like these old elevators either."

"What's to worry about? It's as solid as me," said Wrex, banging his fist against the side of the shaft. At once, the elevator lurched, and Ellie felt her weight grow lighter as the car began a free-fall to the ground.

As quickly as it had begun, the fall stopped, an act that caused the elevator to creak and groan, all but screaming in agony as parts ground against other parts, trying desperately to free themselves. She didn't hesitate; she hit the door release button and hauled herself out of the car, onto a raised platform of meshing. Kaidan followed her a moment later, followed by Wrex. The krogan cleared the door, and the car resumed its free-fall, plummeting for a full minute before hitting the ground with a loud crash.

"May you live in interesting times," she said to Wrex; it was the worst curse she could think of.

"Huh. Life's got a hell of a lot more interesting with you in it, Shepard," he replied.

"Hellooo? Is anybody out there?"

They all froze. The voice that had spoken was female, and near. Ellie glanced at Kaidan; he nodded to her, calm and stoic as ever. She met Wrex's blood-red eyes, and he grinned, stroking the side of his assault rifle. Together, they moved out, along the platform of meshing.

"Please, if you can hear me, and you're not geth, please help me!"

She brought her finger to her lips, requesting silence from her team.

"I heard you talking just now! Please, if there's somebody there, answer me!"

They followed the voice, and she found herself staring at an asari woman, held aloft within some sort of mass effect field behind a barrier that protected an alcove.

"Dr. T'soni, I presume?"

"Oh, thank the goddess!" said the woman in the field. "If you know who I am, then you must know that the geth are after me too. Can you get me out of here before they return?"

"How do I know this isn't a trap, and that you put yourself in there on purpose, to win my trust? For all I know, you could be working with your mother and Saren."

"My mother? What does _she_ have to do with any of this?" said Liara with unfeigned surprise. "As for this... Saren... I don't know anybody by that name. I've been researching Prothean ruins for most of my life. I don't like to involve myself in politics."

"How'd you end up in there, then?"

"I... when the geth arrived, I was frightened. I knew that this chamber possessed a mass-effect forcefield that could only be activated from within. I knew that it would keep the geth out, so I sealed myself inside. But I accidentally triggered something else... this bubble of energy keeps me from moving and deactivating the field."

"Any idea how we can get you out of there?"

"No, but if you make the attempt, please be careful; there is a krogan here, commanding the geth, and he looks dangerous."

"Aren't we all?" said Wrex. Liara jumped in surprise, apparently seeing him for the first time.

"I see your point. Please, hurry. I don't think I can stand another hour inside this bubble."

"We'll be back," Ellie assured her.

She led her team along the platform and down a light of stairs, to the ground level. Here, the air was coolest. The only light came from evenly spaced lamps that gave off a dull orange glow. This place was obviously the heart of Dr. T'soni's archaeological site; tools and crates lay strewn around the place as if abandoned in the heat of the moment. Had Liara worked here alone? If so, why? If not, where were her team?

"Commander," said Kaidan, drawing her attention to a large laser drill. He nodded towards the bare rock beneath Dr. T'soni's cell. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I'll let you do the honours," she grinned, gesturing for Wrex to follow her to cover. For a moment, Kaidan stood by the drill's control panel, altering the programming to achieve the desired effect. Then he hit the start-up button, and threw himself behind an outcropping of rock. Ellie closed her eyes as the sound of shattering rocks reached her ears. After what seemed like an eternity of booming noise, there was the quieter sound of something electrical overloading, and the rock-shattering groans ceased. Carefully, she looked out from her hiding place, and saw a deep tunnel penetrating the ground beneath Liara. With any luck, the drill would have cut a hole straight into the back of the woman's cell.

"Come on," she said, gesturing for her team to follow. Carefully, she stepped around steaming hot rock fragments, making sure she didn't touch the sides of the newly constructed tunnel; they glowed red, and would no doubt sear the skin from her body if she made contact. Lady luck was both for and against Eloise today; the drill _hadn't_ carved a hole into Liara's cell, but it _had_ exposed an ancient Prothean lifting platform, most likely a cargo elevator of sorts. She took a few moments to scan the place with her omni-tool, and was relieved by how familiar it was. The Prothean ruins on Mars were _very_ similar to this place, and she had been to Mars several times.

Though she knew very little of the Prothean language, she recognised several symbols on the control panel in front of her. Two of them translated loosely as 'elevate' and 'descend', so she pushed the 'elevate' button, a small triumphant thrill rushing through her as the platform began to slowly rise. Beside her, Kaidan and Wrex readied their guns.

The platform ceased moving, and once again, luck smiled. Her team was now at the unprotected rear of Liara T'soni's 'cell' - they stepped out into it, and Ellie examined a nearby console as Liara began a long litany of praise and thanks.

"Doctor," she said, cutting the woman off in mid-sentence. "You're going to have to help me out here. These buttons mean nothing to me. Which one will free you?"

"The green one with the triangle on it," said Liara, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Ellie nodded, and pushed the green button. There was a cessation of noise; the barely audible, persistent humming noise that had once filled the cell, was now gone. With it went the stasis bubble, and Liara T'soni fell gracelessly to the floor. She picked herself up and dusted off her clothes nonchalantly, before nodding her thanks.

"I can't begin to tell you-" she began, but was cut off when the ground began to shake. Liara was thrown against Ellie, who helped steady her.

"What the hell was that?"

"The drill that you used..." said Liara. "It must have released pressure on the planet's crust. I've been very careful to avoid drilling in such places, but I think now the ground is becoming tectonically unstable."

"Right. We're getting out of here. _Now._ Kaidan, get that platform moving."

She all but dragged Dr. T'soni by the arm to the platform, and Wrex jumped on right behind them. At the console, Kaidan pressed the button for elevation, and the lift began to slowly rise. Meanwhile, the walls around them continued to tremor and shake. Images of the platform hurtling towards the ground rushed through her mind. If they died here, she would _kill_ Dr. Kay for getting her into this mess.

When the platform's movement ceased, revealing a door not far away, a barely restrained sigh of relief escaped her lips. But her relief was short-lived; the door opened, admitting several geth and a krogan into the area. He was heavily armed, as were the geth with him, and she immediately had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"I don't know who you are, but I _really_ don't have time for this," she said. "In case you hadn't noticed, the ruins are collapsing around us."

"Exhilarating, isn't it?" he grinned. "Tell you what. Have over the doctor, and the rest of you can leave. I've got no fight with you."

"Shame I've got one with you, then."

She whipped her pistol from his holster and shot him three times. That was all she could manage before the geth started targeting her and she was forced to dive behind the platform's console to avoid being filled with bullets. Her companions were not idle; Kaidan was using his omni-tool to disrupt the geth weapons and shields. Wrex was charging towards the krogan. Liara was surrounded by a biotic field, using her powers to rip apart the body of any geth that got too close to her. Ellie quickly booted up her own omni-tool and began overloading enemy weapons. It wasn't so much a battle-field as a gladiatorial ring, complete with synthetic carnage.

Then the tables turned; the ground shook violently, and she, along with Kaidan and Liara, was thrown to the ground. A geth sniper took aim at her, and it was only at the last moment that she remembered she held her gun. She raised it and fired rapidly until it overheated. By the time the geth hit the floor, it was riddled with over a dozen bullets.

A quick glance at Wrex told her how his own fight was faring; she was clearly the superior warrior. He used his rifle butt to wind his opponent, then brought the weapon heavily down across the krogan's back. When his opponent fell to the floor, he opened fire, peppering the prone body until it moved no more. Then he turned to her and grinned.

"Most fun I've had in years, Shepard."

The ground shook again, sending everybody sprawling to the floor. Kaidan helped her up, and then moved on to Liara, whilst Wrex hauled his bulk upright and looked around in consternation. She knew just how he felt.

"Is there a fast way out of here?" she asked Liara.

"Yes, follow me!" the woman replied, setting a fast pace to the door.

"Normandy," she said, activating a comm channel. "We need evac _now!_ This whole place is coming down on us!"

"We've made your location, Commander," said Pressly. "ETA one minute. Best hurry, our sensors are reading a massive build-up of pressure, it's likely to result in a seismic event so large that nothing will surv-"

"I get it! Shepard out." She closed the channel and hurried after her team, as what remained of Therum's Prothean ruins collapsed rapidly around her.


	11. Capsule

Deus Ex Machina

_11. Capsule_

Date: 21-06-2183 CE

Timestamp: 22.13

- Begin recording -

"My name is Eloise Tegan Shepard. But if you've got this far, you probably already know that.

This was all the military's idea, but I'm sure Doctor Kay is behind it. They want to create a time-capsule, they say. They want to include profiles for current 'influential people' within the Systems Alliance, they say. I don't buy it. Kay's always trying to get me to open up and talk about my feelings and crap like that. I'm not against talking about my feelings, but that's what friends are for. I don't want to tell a stranger about my life. I don't want to tell _you_ about my life. But I can hardly turn down a request from Admiral Hackett, so here goes.

The reason I've been asked to partake in this little experiment is because yesterday I became humanity's first Spectre. I know that they've included my military file in this capsule, so you don't need me to reiterate everything for you. Kay says I should talk about me as a person, and not me as a Commander or a Spectre. Why anybody, a thousand years from now, might want to know what my favourite colour is and what I ate for breakfast, is beyond me.

So. Where to start?

I was orphaned as a baby. The only thing my parents ever gave me was my name. I hate 'Eloise'. It's what the orphanage overseers used to call me when I was naughty, which is why most people call me Ellie. Or Shepard. Either works fine for me, really.

I'm into history. Old Earth stuff. I like opera, jazz, classical, hard rock, death metal... I could go on forever, really. My musical tastes are pretty eclectic. I'm not big on more recent stuff... it tends to be a bit crap, frankly. I also like watching vids, especially anything sci-fi. I once watched an old black and white vid with giant killer ants in it. Pretty surreal stuff. Oh, and Star Trek... they got some things right. There's a Federation out here, only we call it "The Council". The aliens are pretty diverse. I even have a few on my crew, now.

Not everybody's keen on the idea. But, when it comes down to it, what are they going to do about it? Take the Normandy away from me? Ask the Council to de-Spectre me? Pigs will fly before that happens. As far as the military's concerned, I'm some bloody golden child, their way into securing a seat on the Council. Bah, now I'm ranting. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, aliens on the crew. There's Tali. She's a quarian, and from what Adams has told me, a bloody good engineer. I'm glad to have her along. We have a lot in common. We both love tech. We both love music. I promised to download my archive for her. I thought life aboard the Flotilla would be boring and stale, but apparently quarians are really into music and art. They have their own unique culture.

And then there's Wrex. He's krogan, and built like a brick shit-house, and to look at him, you'd think he's just another gun for hire. But he's actually pretty deep. He's also really old. I _really_ want to call him 'old man' but I think that's more than my life's worth. Still, it's good to have him around. His presence is comforting. Might sound odd that an Alliance soldier, a marine, a _Spectre_, wants to be comforted, but what can I say... I'm only human? Anyway. Last is Garrus. He's a turian, so he makes a lot of the crew nervous. Especially Pressly. Then again, Nihlus made a lot of the crew nervous too. I wish he'd lived longer. I wish he was still here to guide me. Hmm... screw this. And screw you, Doctor Kay. I like Garrus. He reminds me of Miguel. He, too, was lost and alone. He, too, kept mainly to himself, only letting me close. Growing up in the slums will do that to you, I suppose.

I like liquor. Whisky, mostly. Brandy, on occasion. I don't drink coffee (unless it's decaf) because it really screws around with me. Don't know why, but I've never had a tolerance for it, and I don't like feeling constantly wired, so I avoid it. My favourite food is spaghetti bolognaise. My favourite animal... hmm. I like sharks. They're perfect. Fast, sleek, efficient, deadly. If there are still sharks in Earth's oceans, whenever you're reading this, you should go diving with them. I did it once and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

God, I must be boring you to death. You should just skip my entry and go on to Anderson's. I'm sure it's much more exciting than my ramblings. It's not like I'm even dedicating real time to this. It's just something to do whilst the Normandy travels at FTL to the Knosses system. Once we get there, I need to find an asari named 'Liara T'soni'... which means in a few hours, I'll probably be blowing stuff up. It's what marines do best. That's who I am. It's what I am. Without it, I'd be nothing.

I seem to be jumping topics a lot. I'm not like this really. I'm actually a very efficient person. I'm the person who makes lists. Then I make lists to keep track of my lists. Sometimes I make lists just for fun. I know why I'm jumping from topic to topic - Dr Kay, despite her constantly haranguing, has taught me well. It's a sort of defence mechanism. You keep talking about one thing for too long, you start opening up about it. Then it's easy for psychs to find a way in. You have to change things constantly to keep them off guard, to keep them out. Bear that in mind, if you still have psychs a thousand years from now.

I better wrap this up before people start wondering why I'm talking to myself in my room. I need to ship out soon, and I don't know how this mission will go down. If I fail... there might not be a humanity in a thousand years. There may be nothing but a war-ravaged, empty galaxy. The Protheans were smart enough to leave something behind. But nobody believes me. Nobody believes my warnings. So this is my message, my Prothean Beacon to you.

We are not safe. The Reapers are coming.

.

.

.

P.S.

My favourite colour is black, and for breakfast I ate a standard Alliance military multi-bar."

- End Recording -


	12. Perspective

Deus Ex Machina

_12. Perspective_

Doctor Liara T'Soni, acutely aware of the hulking krogan following directly behind her like a prison guard, followed her saviours out of the airlock and down a long corridor into the main command area of the ship. At first glance (and admittedly, it had been a _fast_ glance, as she was leaping towards the open door) she'd thought that it was a turian ship - the design of it looked turian, all harsh angles and sleekness, not at all beautiful like asari ships - but the CIC was abuzz with activity of the human kind. The pink-skinned aliens were hovering around computer consoles, peering at screens, talking to each other in their fast way with their strange accents. It seemed to be the way, with the shorter-lived species; they seemed to feel the need to talk faster, to fit more in to the brief time they had available in their short lives.

Now, one or two of the humans glanced at her, but most of them concentrated on their jobs. That meant that they'd either seen asari before, or were very professional. Usually, much gawking and cat-calling occurred when humans saw asari for the first time. She'd experienced it before, and it only served to strengthen her desire to work alone, in remote places.

"Too close, Commander," said a disembodied voice over the comm system. "Ten more seconds and we would have been swimming in molten sulphur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference."

"I wouldn't have cut it so close with just any pilot, Joker," said the woman at the front of their small procession. Liara had heard the man following her call her 'Commander' too. Obviously, the woman was the leader of this ship. A military ship, judging by the crew uniforms and the chain of command-like hierarchy. "I knew it wouldn't be a problem for the best pilot in the Alliance Fleet, though."

"Huh," the voice responded, conveying surprise and pleasure in a single non-word. "You're right about that, at least. But next time, a little more warning about our imminent destruction might be nice. Just so I can prepare the crew for some fancy flying, y'know? Pressly almost had a coronary."

"I'll keep that in mind. For now, put a bit of distance between us and Therum, please. Just in case any more geth are sneaking around. And ask Williams, Tali and Garrus to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing. Oh, and ask Doctor Chakwas to prepare the med bay for after my meeting... I was hit by falling ruins on the way out of the mine and my back hurts like hell."

"Can I get you anything else, Commander? Maybe some fries to go with that?"

"Just get it done," the woman sighed.

"How did you know where to find me, Commander... ah..." Liara began, hoping to break the ice quickly with the human Commander. The woman had not yet called off her krogan mercenary, and she wasn't _entirely_ sure whether she had been rescued from Therum, or placed in further danger.

"Shepard," said the woman, turning around and offering her hand. Liara, only vaguely familiar with human greetings, took it, and the woman shook it, her grip firm. "I apologise for not introducing myself before now, but time was of the essence. This is Lieutenant Alenko, and Urdnot Wrex," Shepard said, gesturing to the human and the krogan in turn. The lieutenant gave her a polite nod, but the krogan merely glowered at her. Perhaps it was time to be a little more direct.

"And am I your guest here, Commander Shepard, or your prisoner?" she asked, raising her chin defiantly.

"That remains to be seen," Shepard said, her face carefully blank, her blue eyes betraying nothing. "Please come with me, and I'll answer all of your questions. And you shall answer some of mine."

Liara shivered as she resumed following Shepard through the ship. The woman's words hadn't been a threat, no, but they'd hardly been a request, either. Suddenly, she found herself hoping that she wasn't going to end up as the Commander's enemy. Then, she berated herself for the thought. She'd already lived several times longer than the human woman, and, the Goddess willing, she'd still be alive when Shepard's great-great-great-great grandchildren were nought but distant memories and dust in the ground. No self-respecting asari would let herself be so easily cowed by a mere human... _child_!

_A mere human child in command of a ship and a krogan mercenary,_ she reminded herself. Besides, everybody knew that the humans were a force to be reckoned with. Hadn't they held their own against the turians during the Relay 314 Incident, some thirty or so years earlier?

She followed without seeing, lost in her own thoughts, and only came back to herself when Shepard led her into a large, circular room with seats around a table. Then, as she finally _saw_, she was careful to keep her face and composure relaxed, wanting to hide her surprise.

Already in the room was a young human woman of an age with the Commander, but it wasn't the woman that surprised her. Seated on the opposite side of the table was a Turian! Quite a young one, if she was any judge of such matters, and he bore the blue facial tattoos of one born on Palaven. It wasn't the fact that he was so far from his homeworld which was alarming, but the fact that he was on a human ship. Was he a mercenary, like the krogan? If so, why would Shepard invite him to her military debriefing?

Even more surprising was the presence of a second woman, her face covered by a mask and her body encased in a skin-tight, self-sealed suit. Though she had no idea where the Migrant Fleet was, she knew that it was unusual for quarians to be far away from their people, and to see one here, amongst humans... she hadn't even known that the humans knew about the quarians! Obviously, much had changed during her few brief years on Therum.

Her skin went cold momentarily as a thought crossed her mind. Perhaps these people were pirates. It would certainly explain the presence of a krogan mercenary. It might even explain why humans and turians were working together; it was almost unheard of, given the hostilities between the two races after the Relay 314 Incident. And it may also explain the quarian... perhaps the masked woman was looking for a new planet for her people to loot, and was working with the humans to steal valuable Prothean artifacts. Well, if that was the case, they'd get nothing out of Liara T'soni! She would sooner die than see her work debased by pirates. Prothean artifacts were far too important to be simply sold on the black market!

"Won't you have a seat, Doctor T'soni?" said Shepard.

Liara blinked, and scolded herself for letting her thoughts distract her. She took the seat beside Shepard, which the woman was gesturing to, and as regally as she was able, sat down to await her fate.

"Before we begin with the questions," Shepard said, "I should introduce everybody here. This is Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, Garrus Vakarian, and Tali'Zorah nar Rayya," said the woman, pointing at the human woman, the turian and the quarian respectively. "You're aboard the SSV Normandy, and we'll most likely be bound soon for Citadel space."

"And may I ask what you were doing on Therum?" she replied, as politely as possible.

"Looking for you, of course."

"For what purpose?"

"It's something of a family matter, I'm afraid," said Shepard. "It's about your mother."

"Has something happened to her?" she asked calmly. It wasn't as if she and her mother were close, but she wouldn't wish anything bad upon the woman.

"You could say she's fallen in with the wrong crowd," the other human woman - Chief Williams, she recalled - said grimly.

"Matriarch Benezia is no Maiden in her rebellious years," she assured the young woman. "She's a respected member of asari society."

"When was the last time you actually _spoke_ with her?" the turian, Garrus, asked casually.

"It's... been a few years," she acceded hesitantly. "Benezia and I were never all that close. She adored being in the public eye, having her opinion sought, giving advice about everything from politics to philosophy. I, on the other hand, chose to pursue more... academic... matters. I believe she considers me something of a failure, though she's never said so outright. Now, if you think my mother might be in trouble, please just say so plainly. I have no patience for bandying words."

"We suspect," Shepard continued, "that your mother is working with a rogue Spectre named Saren Arterius."

"To what end?"

For a moment, Shepard hesitated. "Initially, it seems she's working with Saren and the geth to attack human colonies. That's what the Council would have us believe."

"That's ridiculous," she said dismissively. "The geth do not 'work' with organics, even I know that. And if they were going to attack anybody, it would be the quarian Migrant Fleet. Not colonies of humans."

"Maybe you're right. But before you make up your mind, I'd like you to listen to something. Tali, play the recording."

The quarian activated her omni-tool, and a voice filled the room.

"Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit," said the voice. It was unmistakably turian.

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers," another voice added, and Liara felt her breath catch in her throat.

"I can see by your expression that you recognise the voice as your mother's," Shepard said, her piercing blue eyes watching her intently. "The first voice is that of Saren. This recording came from the memory core of a damaged geth unit, which Tali was able to salvage. And the 'Reapers', to which your mother refers, are a race of sentient machines that wiped out the Protheans."

"That's preposterous!" she replied angrily. "I've been studying the Protheans for longer than you've been alive! If there was any indication that they were wiped out by a race of machines, I would have found some trace of it."

"Unless the machines were _really_ good at covering their tracks," Tali'Zorah said. "The geth seem to worship the Reapers as gods. The last thing we need is for them to be brought back from... wherever they're due to return from."

"I don't believe you," Liara said stubbornly. If what these people were saying was true, then everything she had ever believed about the Protheans, her long years of research, had been a lie. "The Protheans were the most advanced race the galaxy has ever seen. They left the Citadel, and the Mass relays, and caches of their data, for us to find."

"Did they?" said Shepard. "Sometimes I wonder how much we think we know. Regardless, I don't require you to make a leap of faith. I have proof of my claims."

"In what form?"

"We found a Prothean Beacon on one of our colony worlds. It was... triggered. I was caught up in some sort of beam, and it gave me a vision. A vision of the Protheans being eradicated by the Reapers. It was a warning, and it was real. The Council doesn't believe me. My own damn ambassador doesn't believe me. The only people who believe me are the people who're sitting in this room now, and the crew on my ship. It's up to us to stop Saren, and your mother, from bringing the Reapers back. If a race as advanced as the Protheans can be wiped out by them, then we surely don't stand a chance."

Could it be true? If what Shepard was saying was correct... no, it couldn't be. The Council would not ignore a threat as big as these Reapers, if it really existed. But then... the Council had been wrong before. They'd opened up a Mass Relay to rachni space. They'd then given the krogans the means to eradicate them, essentially ushering in the krogan rebellions. They'd underestimated humanity, during first-contact with the turians. Could they also be wrong about these so-called Reapers? There was, perhaps, one way of finding out.

"I'd like to see this evidence for myself," she said.

"That's not possible," Shepard replied. "Once the beacon had passed on its vision to me, it exploded. Right now, it's on the Citadel, being studied by scientists, but they don't think they can get anything from it."

"Maybe not, but asari have some telepathic ability. We can share thoughts, ideas, images and memories. If you would share your memories with me, if I could see for myself the threat that these Reapers represent... perhaps I can be of assistance to you."

"The memories are fragmented. Right now, they don't make much sense to me. All I know is that we're all in danger. This beacon... for all I know, it was the Prothean's legacy. It was likely the last thing they ever made before the Reapers annihilated them."

"Commander..." said Lieutenant Alenko, his voice carrying tones of unspoken doubt.

"I promise, it won't harm you," she assured Shepard. "It doesn't hurt."

"Lieutenant Alenko is more concerned with the confidential military information stored in my mind, than he is about harm to me," said Shepard wryly.

"I also promise that your mind won't be compromised in any way. You can choose completely which information to share with me."

"I've heard that before," Garrus spoke up. "A friend of a friend of a friend had a cousin whose mate was an asari."

"Alright then," said Shepard, apparently mollified by the confirmation. "You can proceed."

Liara stood up, and gestured for Shepard to do the same. They stood opposite each other, and she raised her hands, resting her fingertips on the other woman's temples. She'd never done this before, though she'd been told _how_ to do it, and she wasn't entirely convinced that it would work. But she'd told an entire room full of people that she could do it, so she had to at least try.

"Close your eyes and open your mind to me," she said. Once Shepard's eyes were closed, she closed hers too, and the entire comm room fell away. Darkness shrouded her mind, and from the darkness came forms. They fell from the sky like shooting stars, but they brought death and destruction in their wake. Where they went, planets burned, and the screams of the dying filled the air. They descended time and time again, a swarm of locusts devouring their crops, and when they finally disappeared, there was nought left but ruin.

Gasping at the intensity of the images, and the wash of Shepard's emotions that accompanied them, she pulled her hands away from the Commander's temples, and steadied herself on the back of her chair as the comm room reeled around her. What in the name of the Goddess had she just witnessed? Those things, those locusts in the sky, were they truly the Reapers that Saren and the Normandy crew spoke of?

"Do you believe me now?" Shepard asked, retaking her seat, apparently unconcerned by the images in her mind.

"Yes, I do," she replied with a shiver of revulsion. "And I don't know how you can stand having such visions in your mind. Why aren't they driving you mad?"

"Because I've seen worse," said Shepard quietly, and for a moment, Liara truly _saw_ her. The woman's blue eyes were hard, but translucent like a sheet of ice; behind them lurked shadows of horror, kept at bay and prevented from escaping by sheer strength of will and determination alone. The Commander seemed not to have noticed that her right hand had balled into a fist, and that her nails were digging into her palm.

"Commander, Rear Admiral Kahoku is on the line asking to speak to you," said a voice over the comm. It was the same voice who'd quipped about the close rescue from Therum. "He says it's urgent."

"Alright everyone," said Shepard, the tension apparently gone from her body, "this debriefing is over. Liara, get yourself down to our med bay. No offence, but you look like you've been hit by a sledgehammer. Lieutenant Alenko will show you the way."

"Aye, Commander," said the Lieutenant.

"Before I go, Commander," she said, hesitating for a moment when everybody in the room stopped on the verge of leaving to look at her, "I'd just like to thank you properly for saving me. I don't know why my mother is working with Saren, or the geth, or why she might be trying to bring back the Reapers, but I'd like to find out. I'll help you in any way I can."

"In that case, welcome to the team."

o - o - o - o - o

Ellie waited until the door had closed on the last person from the room, then tapped the comm button on the desk in front of her. "Put the Admiral through now, Joker," she said.

"Right, Commander. It's audio only. Patching him through."

"Commander Shepard," said the voice on the comm line. It wasn't a familiar voice; she'd heard of Kahoku before, of course, but she'd never served with him.

"If this is about my mission to find Doctor T'soni, General, then you should know I was just about to file a report to send on to Ambas-"

"I'm not interested in your current mission," he said, cutting her off.

"Then what can I do for you, Admiral?" Something was obviously bothering the senior officer; she'd heard that, like Captain Anderson, he was a good man, calm and not prone to bad temper or irritability. Whatever he was carrying around with him must be heavy, to make him snap at humanity's first ever Spectre.

"I hear you're in the Artemis Tau cluster," said Kahoku.

"That's right, Sir."

"I was sent a report not long ago about suspicious activity on Edolus, in the Sparta system. I sent a team of marines to investigate, but as yet, they haven't reported back. I've completely lost all contact with them, and I've been trying for days to get the Council or Alliance HQ to send a ship to investigate, but so far I've been stonewalled at every turn. It's almost as if somebody doesn't _want_ me to contact the marines. I know that technically you get your orders from Admiral Hackett, but I'd like you to look into this for me as a personal favour. You're in the neighbourhood, you've got stealth tech should you require it, and... those men are more than marines. They're friends. Their families deserve to know if something has happened to them."

"I understand, Sir," she said, feeling a knot of unease form in her stomach. Of course, it was entirely possible that the marines had had a technical malfunction with their equipment, and were simply unable to report back, but still... marines watched out for each other. They didn't leave each other behind. "I'll take the Normandy there right away and get back to you as soon as I have word."

"Thank you, Shepard. Good luck. Kahoku out."

When the comm line went dead, she left the room and made her way to the med bay, nodding at her underlings who greeted her as she passed. When the door to what passed for a hospital on the ship opened for her, she found Liara sitting on a bed whilst Chakwas ran a scanner over her Kaidan watched on from behind her.

"How's the patient?" she asked, smiling in the hope that it would put a clearly tense Doctor T'Soni at ease.

"Healthiest asari I've ever seen," Doctor Chakwas said affably, glancing at the read-out on the scanner. "There don't seem to be any negative side-effects from being suspended inside the Prothean mass effect field."

"Well, I am rather hungry," Liara admitted sheepishly.

"Kaidan, take Doctor T'soni to the mess for something to eat, then tell Joker to put us on a course to Edolus in the Sparta system," Ellie said.

"We've got a new mission already, Commander?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"More like a favour to an Admiral, but it amounts to the same."

"Thank you for your care, Doctor Chakwas," said Liara, sliding off the bed and landing silently on her feet. "It's reassuring to be in the hands of somebody with knowledge of asari physiology."

"You're quite welcome," said Chakwas, all smiles and bedside-manners. She kept the smile in place until Kaidan and Liara had gone, then rounded on Ellie. "And what's this I hear about you needing my attention already, Commander?" she asked. "I wasn't expecting to have to patch up my superior officer on her first away mission, you know. Well, hop onto the bed, let's see how you've nearly managed to kill yourself this time."

Ellie had had _more_ than her fair share of doctors' attention in her life, and she knew the drill like the back of her hand. She slipped off her shirt, stripping down to her vest, and placed it neatly on the counter. Then she slipped onto the bed and lay on her stomach whilst Chakwas lifted the vest up her back and began prodding the sore area, as doctors were wont to do.

"Hmm," was the response to her pained gasps. "You've got some terrible bruising, but nothing seems to be broken. I'll run a scan just to be sure, then give you something to take the edge off the pain and the swelling." There was a beeping sound as Chakwas activated her medical omni-tool and began her scans. "May I give you a piece of advice, Commander? The same advice I once gave to Captain Anderson, as a matter of fact."

"I know how it goes with doctors," she said. "You'll ask if I want your advice, then give it to me no matter how I reply. So let's hear it."

"You may be the commanding officer of a starship, but you're only human. Don't try to support mountains with your back; you'll only end up with a crushed spine."

"When was Captain Anderson ever beneath a collapsing mountain?"

"You'd be surprised," said Chakwas with a snort of amusement.

The door to the clinic swished open and Garrus strode in, looking like a man on a mission. She could tell by the way that he moved, and by the defiant tilt of his head, that he had something to say, and wasn't going to be content until he said it. When he saw her lying prone he stood over her and looked down at her for a moment, his eyes flickering over her bare back.

"What does your tattoo mean?" he asked.

She reached back with her arm to run her fingers over the middle of her spine, over the image of the bulldog etched into her skin in red ink. "It's the symbol of the gang I used to be in, back on Earth," she explained. "They liked to mark their members."

"It's hard to believe you used to be a criminal," Garrus mused.

"It's a life I've left behind gladly."

"I can remove the tattoo for you quite easily, if you like," Chakwas offered.

"Thanks for the offer," she replied, "but I think I'd prefer to keep it. It reminds me of what I was, and what I don't want to be. Besides, it's something they can use to identify my body when I die."

"Bah! Just for being so flippant about your own life, you're getting your medigel delivered via needle form. Now hold still, this will sting."

She winced as Chakwas injected the gel into her back, and then sighed as it began to work, miraculously mending her damaged tissue and relieving most of the pain. "Did you want to discuss something, Garrus?" she asked, sitting up and pulling her vest down before reaching for her shirt. "Or did you come here just to watch the good Doctor sticking needles into my body?"

"Ah, yes. Now you mention it, there _was_ something I wanted to talk about," he said, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts. "It's Saren."

"What about him?"

"Well, eventually, we're going to catch him. But I'm concerned about what will happen when we do. He's the Council's top Spectre agent. No doubt he'll come up with some cover story, making it seem like he was pretending to betray the Council for some important reason of galactic security. And what's to stop the Council from covering up his actions to save them from embarrassment?"

"I see where this is going, and I don't want to hear it," Chakwas said in disgust. "I'll be in the mess if you need me."

"She's sworn to save lives," Ellie explained as she fastened the last button on her shirt. "I see where this is going too, and I don't think it's necessary to terminate Saren."

"Even after all he's done? After everybody he's killed?" Garrus asked, his eyes almost fervent in their intensity. "After everything that happened on Eden Prime, you still wouldn't kill him, if you had to?"

"If I have to, I will. But I want him to alive, to answer for his crimes. I can't be his judge, jury and executioner. That's not how the Alliance works."

"Maybe not, but you're not just an Alliance Soldier anymore, you're a Spectre, and sometimes Spectres have to make the hard decisions. If you can't make those decisions, you shouldn't have taken the job."

"Don't talk to me about hard decisions," she said firmly. "I've had to make them before, and I've no doubt I'll have to make them again. But when I have to make them, they'll be _my_ decisions. Not yours, not Anderson's, not the Council's. Do you think it's easy for me, hunting down Saren after what he's done? Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can see the faces of the people he has killed, the deaths he is responsible for. In those moments, I'm _sorely_ tempted to consider killing him. But that would be the easy way out. Keeping him alive, knowing that he doesn't deserve to live... that's what's hard, and I know it's the right choice because it's the hard choice. Easy choices, convenient choices, are always wrong choices, and I don't want to go through life making the wrong choices. The right choices might be more painful, and they may make me work harder, but that's what being a soldier is all about. And first and foremost, I am an Alliance soldier. Without the Alliance, without being a marine, I have nothing. I _am_ nothing. Being a Spectre is an addition, one I can comfortably live without."

"I'm sorry for second-guessing you," he said, and she could tell from his body language that he was offering a genuine apology. "I've just seen too many criminals walk because of technicalities. Executor Pallin used to lecture me about following the rules, but most of the time, he wanted me to follow them for the sake of following them. In his eyes, it didn't matter if a criminal was let off on a technicality as long as we'd followed the rules, because in his eyes, rules are tantamount to civilisation, and without them, we'd descend into anarchy. Personally, I'd rather bypass a few rules to see somebody punished as they deserve. That's one of the reasons why I asked to join you on your mission. I want to see first-hand how a Spectre handles things. I want to see if you'll cling to your military rules, or bend them in order to achieve your goals."

"Walk with me for a while," she said, sliding off the bed and leading the way out of the med bay. He easily kept up with her shorter pace, but for a few moments, she walked in silence, trying to arrange her thoughts. Garrus reminded her of a child looking for guidance and boundaries. She suspected that Pallin had spent too long talking _at_ Garrus, instead of talking _to_ him, and although she didn't want to shove her own morals down his throat, she wanted him to understand why rules and regulations were so important to her, so that he at least had something to think about.

"As an Alliance marine," she said at last, "I will always follow the orders of my commanding officers. The chain of command is important, and once it's been disregarded, the entire command structure is mooted. There's also the matter of accountability; I'm responsible for my own conduct, but sometimes my superior officers are responsible for my actions. I have to accept that they know best, and sometimes they might be operating under intel that I don't have. As a Spectre, I may not be opposed to bending the rules a little every once in a while, but only to achieve the goals of the _Council_. Not my own goals. Once I start bending rules for my own benefit, I become no better than Saren. In the end, I am accountable for myself, and there are certain things I won't do. I won't shoot an unarmed man. I won't endanger civilians to take out a hostile. I won't torture a person for information. If the Alliance started asking me to do these things, then I'd resign. If the Council asked me to do these things... well, it's my prerogative as a Spectre to decline and find an alternative method. I need to follow my own code of honour.

"If my adherence to the rules means that Saren goes free, then so be it. But I won't allow him to cause any more harm. I'll follow him to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. He won't be allowed to as much as pass wind without me knowing about it, and the second he makes a mistake, I'll be on him, either to haul him back to the Council or to eliminate the threat that he poses. But I have to give the system a chance. I can't take it upon myself to play God. I won't, even if others would in my place."

"I can see where you're coming from," he said slowly. "Have you ever considered a career in law enforcement? Executor Pallin would love you."

"You know, I forgot to even ask the Council if Spectres get paid."

"Maybe they'll have you on a bonus scheme for how many bad guys you catch."

"Yeah, maybe. Not that it matters if Saren manages to open the Conduit to the Reapers," she said, killing the mood which had been threatening to become almost jovial.

"We'll stop him," he assured her. "I mean sure, Saren is the Council's longest-serving, most experienced turian Spectre with an army of genocidal machines at his beck and call, but we've got a few tricks up our proverbial sleeves. The Normandy, for one, and Matriarch Benezia's daughter could prove useful. And who better to fight against the geth than one of the people who created them? Oh, and Wrex, he likes to hit stuff."

"You're not prejudiced against him because he's a krogan, are you?"

"Not because he's a krogan; because he's a mercenary."

"Just... give him a chance. I've found that a lot of the time, people are more than the sun of their parts. Wrex may be a mercenary, but he's here now and he wants to help. Just like you do. For the moment, that's enough. Now, I could happily debate morality and ethics with you all day, but I've got a rescue mission to plan."

"A rescue mission?" he asked, his eyes shining excitedly.

"A _possible_ rescue mission," she amended. "The Alliance has lost contact with a team of marines sent to investigate suspicious activity in the Sparta system."

"Will you be taking the Mako?"

"Maybe. Depends what I find when we reach Edolus."

"Can I join you on this mission?"

"Yes, alright then," she acceded. It would be a good chance to evaluate Garrus' skills a little better. She'd already seen what Wrex could do, and of course, she'd been with Kaidan long enough to be fully aware of his experience - and his limits. "Come on," she said, "let's start suiting up while Pressly searches for our marines."


	13. Profile

Deus Ex Machina

_13. Profile_

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

**Extranet connection activated**  
_Login ID verified: Dr. Liara T'soni_  
_Password: ***************_  
_Session start: 22-06-2183CE 15:52 ship-time_

_Extranet search: _Commander Shepard

_52,142 results returned for _Commander Shepard. _Do you wish to display the most popular search results?_

_Your search may refer to:_

Commander A. C. Shepard, U.S. Navy, D.O.B. 2013, D.O.D. 2069, Place of birth: Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Commander D. G. Shepard, U.S. Navy, D.O.B. 2046, D.O.D. 2131, Place of birth: New York, U.S.A.

Commander E. T. Shepard, Systems Alliance Military, D.O.B. 2154, D.O.D. Not Applicable, Place of birth: London, U.K.

Lieutenant Commander J. L. Shepard, Systems Alliance Military, D.O.B. 2112, D.O.D. 2179, Place of birth: Perth, Australia.

Commander P. R. Shepard, U.S. Navy, D.O.B. 2025, D.O.D. 2105, Place of birth: Calgary, Canada

Commander Z. Z. Shepard, fictional character, _And The Mighty Fell_, auth: Keith Fitzgerald, 2117

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_You have selected_ Commander E. T. Shepard, Systems Alliance Military, D.O.B. 2154, D.O.D. Not Applicable, Place of birth: London, U.K.

_Accessing file: E: / alliance. military. gov/ public_domain/ personnel/S /shepard-5923-AC-2826. prf_

Physical Profile

Name: Eloise Tegan Shepard

Gender: Female

Service Number: _5923-AC-2826_

Technical Code: N7

Rank: Commander

Date of Birth: 11-04-2154

Place of Birth: (Hospital unknown) London (Assumed), England, United Kingdom, Europe, Earth, Sol

Mother: Unknown

Father: Unknown

Height: 168cm

Mass: 65kg

Hair Colour: Brown

Eye Colour: Blue

Blood Group: O RH Positive

Current Place of Residence: _Information classified. Please enter Level 5 Alliance Military clearance to access data._

Primary Education: London City Primary School (2159-2165)

Secondary Education: South London Technical Academy (2165-2168)

Tertiary Education: Unknown

Date of Enlisting: 13-12-2172

Psychological Profile

_Information classified. Please enter Level 5 Alliance Military clearance to access data._

Service Record

2172 - Enlisted

2173 - Completed basic training (Rank: Serviceman 3rd Class)

2174 - Completed engineering studies at Alliance Engineering Academy (Achieved Two Merits and One Distinction)

Assigned to SSV Shenyang as Engineer Assistant (Grade 2)

2175 - Completed Accelerated Learning Program (Engineering Grade 1)

Promoted to Engineer Assistant (Grade 1)

Commendation for bravery during Batarian attack on SSV Shenyang

Promoted to Serviceman 2nd Class

2177 - Lost entire unit of fifty soldiers and support personnel on Akuze

Commendation for courage

Spent time in recovery at Arcturus Station

Began N7 Training program

2178 - Completed N7 Training Year 1

Recommended for exchange program with Council Member races

2179 - Completed N7 Training Year 2

Completed Spec. Ops. Training (_Further information classified. Please enter Level 5 Alliance Military clearance to access data.)_

Promoted to Corporal

Assigned to SSV Cairo Marine Attachment

2180 - Completed Enhanced Vehicle Engineering Course

Completed Enhanced Weapons Engineering Course

Given desk assignment whilst recovering from injury received in the line of duty.

2181 - Tour of the Attican Traverse aboard SSV Cairo

Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant

Completed Enhanced Weapons Design Course

2182 - Commendation for valour during tour of Terminus Systems and Skyllian Verge

Promoted to 1st Lieutenant

Attended Mass Effect Refresher course at Alliance Engineering Academy

Put forward as potential SPECTRE candidacy

2183 - Recalled from Skyllian Verge, assigned to SSV Normandy as Executive Officer under Captain D. E. Anderson.

Assessed by Turian SPECTRE Nihlus Kryik

Granted SPECTRE status by Citadel Council, becoming Humanity's first SPECTRE

Given command of the SSV Normandy to uncover reason for Geth attacks on human colonies

_Closing file_

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Eloise Tegan Shepard

Eloise Tegan Shepard (April 11th 1954 - Present) is a human Systems Alliance soldier, famous for her achievement of becoming humanity's first SPECTRE [1]. She is a highly decorated N7 Marine who has seen action in the Terminus Systems, The Attican Traverse and The Skyllian Verge, and is currently on a mission to hunt down rogue Turian SPECTRE Saren Arterius [citation needed]. She holds the rank of Commander and is the CO of the SSV Normandy [2].

Early Life

Shepard was born in the metropolis of London [citation needed] in the spring of 1954. Abandoned as a newborn babe by her parents, whom to this day she still does not know, Shepard was raised in the New Kingston Orphanage [3] in the centre of London. She attended London City Primary School [4] where from an early age she showed a remarkable aptitude for technology [5]. She had few friends at school and the orphanage, preferring instead to keep to herself and tinker with electronics to keep herself occupied [6]. During her early teens [clarification needed] she worked at The Claret Café clearing tables to earn herself a living [6].

Early Career

During one of her shifts at The Claret, a criminal gang entered the premises and took Shepard, along with two other women, hostage [7]. Ultimately, Shepard was able to negotiate the release of the other hostages, though the gang forced Shepard to remain with them and put her technical expertise to use for them. During her time with the gang, Shepard was responsible for hacking and cracking computer systems [citation needed] as well as running weapons and drugs [citation needed]. It is thought that she operated as a hacker under the alias "Elliot" [citation needed], possibly as a reference to an old film called E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) [citation needed] as Shepard's first initials are the letters "ET".

What the military thinks of Shepard's activities during this period of her life is largely unknown [citation needed], as most of Shepard's personnel file is either unknown data or has been sealed by high ranking officers [2]. What is known is that Shepard has climbed the ranks of the military steadily since enlisting, going from a lowly Serviceman 3rd Class to a Commander in only 11 years, which is a much faster rate of promotion than most soldiers experience [citation needed]. There has been speculation that Shepard's career was engineered from the start to give her the greatest chance of being accepted as humanity's first SPECTRE [8].

Shepard is considered something of a hero to many people, for being the lone survivor of a horrific thresher maw attack on Akuze, which saw Shepard's team and the colonial pioneers they were sent to find, slaughtered down to the last man [9]. Following this attack, Shepard was enrolled onto the N7 Marine training program at Arcturus Station, where she spent two years training intensively before being assigned to the SSV Cairo [2].

The SSV Normandy

In the years [clarification needed] leading up to 2179, the Batarians were putting increasing pressure on colonists in the Skyllian Verge, sometimes attacking colonies and taking humans as slaves. The SSV Cairo was one of the ships assigned to patrol and combat in the Verge, and Shepard spent four years with her team on the Cairo, partaking in offensives against Batarian slavers and pirates [2]. During one mission, Shepard was recalled and given a promotion to XO of the Normandy, a new frigate that was built during a collaboration between the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy [10]. It was at this time Shepard was informed that she was being put forward as a candidate for the SPECTRES; a move which she is said to have welcomed [citation needed].

During a mission to recover a Prothean Beacon from Eden Prime [1], Shepard and her team (Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, Corporal Richard L. Jenkins and SPECTRE Nihlus Kryik) were ambushed by Geth working for a SPECTRE named Saren Arterius [citation needed]. Kryik and Jenkins were killed, and Shepard was exposed to the Prothean Beacon, which gave her a vision of an army of synthetics wiping out the Protheans [11]. Upon returning to the Citadel, Shepard was able, with the assistance a quarian, to expose Arterius's betrayal to the Council, who then stripped him of his SPECTRE rights and made Shepard a SPECTRE in his stead, tasking her with tracking down Saren to bring him to justice [12].

References

[1] Citadel Newsnet, retrieved 20-06-2183.

[2] Alliance Military Personnel Files, retrieved 21-06-2183.

[3] Global Identity Database, (.)

[4] Pupil Registration Database

[5] TQA awarding body

[6] Cowell, Mary, _The last man standing; an Interview with the Hero of Akuze_, London Times, Issue #413, 2177 CE

[7] Central London News broadcast, 15th May 2168

[8] Terra Firms Website, retrieved 21-06-2183

[9] Alliance Newsnet broadcast, 29-09-2177

[10] Whyte, Jonathan, and Becks, Caroline, _Ships of the Alliance; Concepts and Skunkworks_, New York, Greene Publishing, 2182

[11] Wong, Emily, _Why we must fight; an Interview with the Hero of Eden Prime_, Future Content Corporation, 21-06-2183

[12] Jensen, Alex, _The Pride of the Alliance; an interview with Councillor Donnel Udina_, Citadel Newsnet, 21-06-2183.

_Closing file_

_Searching... _Wong, Emily, Why we must fight; an interview with the hero of Eden Prime, audio transcription

_Displaying file_

Emily Wong: I'm here on the Citadel to offer you an exclusive live interview with Commander Eloise Shepard, the woman who carries humanity's hopes and dreams into the skies. Commander Shepard, how does it feel to be humanity's first ever SPECTRE?

Commander Shepard: I'm honoured to have been chosen. I know it wasn't an easy decision for the Council to make, and I hope they'll be able to keep their faith in me.

EW: I've heard that you've been given command of the newest Fleet ship, the Normandy, and tasked with tracking down Saren Arterius?

CS: Yes, that's right. Captain Anderson's done a fantastic job with the Normandy so far, he hand-picked the entire crew, and I trust them implicitly. As far as I'm concerned, this is just a temporary thing. I'd like to hand the Captain his ship back once I've found Saren.

EW: Are you expecting this to be a dangerous mission?

CS: I expect every mission to be dangerous [wry chuckle]. Saren may not be a SPECTRE anymore, but he's still got an army of geth to watch his back. I'll chase him for as long as it takes, but I'll do it carefully. I'm not going to risk losing my ship and my crew on a vendetta.

EW: Can you tell us a little more about the Prothean Beacon you picked up on Eden Prime?

CS: No, I'm afraid it's classified.

EW: Really? Because I heard a rumour that the Beacon was some sort of message, a warning from the Protheans about an impending invasion. Surely the public has a right to know if such an invasion is imminent?

CS: [momentary awkward silence] It's classified, I can't talk about it. But rest assured, if there is a threat, I will find it and eliminate it [Shepard looks angry].

EW: Speaking of threats, should our colonies be worried about Saren and the geth army? Was Eden Prime just the beginning? Should we go so far as to evacuate our people to safer, well-protected planets?

CS: No, I don't think there's any reason for that. Eden Prime was targeted because it was home to the Beacon. The geth aren't interested in attacking human colonies. That doesn't mean that people shouldn't be vigilant, though. [Shepard looks into the camera] I'd caution all Alliance ships to be on the look-out for strange vessels, and to report any anomalies to the proper authorities as soon as possible. Colonists who have weapons should keep them close to hand, because it's better to be safe than sorry.

EW: Your promotion to SPECTRE has caused some pretty strong ripples around the Citadel. SPECTRES are normally only chosen from Council Member races, and I've heard more than a few complaints that humans are trying to do too much, too fast, and that we don't deserve to have a SPECTRE so soon. Do you have any thoughts about that?

CS: I can understand the complaints, and the fears that some people might have. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to become a SPECTRE. I'd never even thought about it before I was introduced to Nihlus [Shepard looks briefly sad]. But when it comes down to it, I'm a soldier. I'm here to save lives, to protect the interests of humanity, and to protect the peace of the Council. I don't do politics, and as far as I know, this wasn't a political decision. The Council just needed somebody to stop a rogue SPECTRE, and they thought I was up to the job.

EW: Then you don't believe that the Council favour humans, and that they made you a SPECTRE because they think that humans could do a better job at settling the Skyllian Verge and the Terminus Systems, and bringing peace to those areas, than the batarians?

CS: I wouldn't like to speculate about that.

EW: Could you tell the viewers a little more about your ship? What's the Normandy like?

CS: [Shepard smiles genuinely] The Normandy is a fantastic little ship, she packs a mean punch and her drive is more efficient than any other ship designed so far.

EW: Is it true that the Turians helped to design it?

CS: They more than helped. They funded a lot of it, along with the Council. It's a joint venture, and a big step forward for us.

EW: Well, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll sleep better knowing that you and your ship are out there fighting for our safety.

CS: Thanks. I'll do my best, and so will my crew.

EW: Thank you for your time, Commander Shepard. And good luck on your mission.

_Closing file._

_Session end: 22-06-2183CE 16:41 ship-time_  
_Logged out_

**Extranet connection deactivated**  
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


	14. Akuze Revisited

Deus Ex Machina

_14. Akuze Revisited_

The Mako rocked gently as it traversed the barren terrain, the vehicle's suspension absorbing the harshest bumps and knocks. Edolus was a bare planet of rising mountains and rocky plateaus, and so far, everything was quiet on the surface. There was no sign of the marine team, but the Mako was still a few klicks away from the strange signal, which the Normandy had picked up on its approach. The Mako had been dropped on the nearest patch of flat ground, and now all that stood between it and the unknown signal was a small mountain range.

"Ease up on the accelerator as we start to climb, Chief," said Commander Shepard. "Too much throttle and we'll get wheel-spin."

"Aye, Commander," Ashley replied, and relaxed the pressure on the accelerator as the vehicle reached the foot of the mountains.

The inside of the Mako was almost as silent as Edolus' surface, and Ashley wondered if she was the only one sensing the tension in the air. At her position at the Mako's main gun controls, the Commander was completely absorbed in reading the information displayed by the on-board computer, and sitting at the Mako's mass-effect cannon controls, Garrus was likewise concentrating on the computer read-outs. The turian was the reason for most of the tension; she knew that he knew that she didn't approve of him being aboard the Normandy, or accompanying the Commander on missions of importance to the Alliance. It was bad enough that they had an asari and a krogan along for the ride, not to mention a quarian who was probably only aboard the Normandy to steal tech - Pressly claimed that most quarians were thieves - but having a turian aboard was one step too far, in her opinion.

Of course, Commander Shepard didn't see it like that. She didn't see aliens, she saw people. It didn't seem to matter to Shepard that the Normandy was a state-of-the-art piece of technology that _couldn't_ be allowed to fall into the wrong hands, or that the turians had once been at war with humanity. The Commander couldn't understand how difficult it was, being a Williams, a name that was once anathema to the Alliance and was still viewed with scorn by many. The turians were the reason Ashley's grandfather had been discharged from the military. They were the reason her father had never been promoted higher than Serviceman 3rd Class. They were the reason why she herself had, until recently, only ever been allowed to serve ground-side. And now, one of them was sitting here, in the Mako, living aboard the most advanced ship in the Alliance Fleet, and he hadn't done _anything _to deserve that achievement.

She herself had spent years training and serving, years hoping and dreaming for a chance like this. She'd almost screamed with happiness when Captain Anderson had offered her a place aboard the Normandy, after Eden Prime. Part of her suspected it was all just an elaborate joke; despite multiple requests she'd submitted over the years, none of her superiors had _ever_ allowed her to serve aboard a ship before. True, she was now filling a dead man's shoes, and the crew still spoke of Jenkins fondly, but she was determined to do everything she could with the opportunity she'd been given. She'd follow any order, go as by-the-book as possible, and if the Commander wanted her to play nice with the turian, she'd play nice with the turian.

"What do you think we'll find on the other side of these mountains?" she asked aloud.

"I don't know," Commander Shepard admitted. "But there's only two possible reasons why we can't contact the recon team."

"I hope they're alright. It's hard on families, not knowing what's happened to their loved ones."

"You sound like you speak from experience, Chief."

"You could say that," she said, glancing at Garrus from the corner of her eye. But the turian seemed to be paying no attention. "My Dad was military, he was away from home a lot, so I helped my Mom raise my sisters. Every Sunday she'd take us to church, and we'd pray to God, ask him to look out for Dad, to watch over him and bring him home safe."

"Your family is religious then?" Shepard asked, sounding a little surprised. It was a familiar sentiment. Belief in God had waned as humanity had taken to the stars, and discovering that there were other sentient life-forms in the galaxy had all but eradicated human belief in a higher power.

"Yeah. I can't look around at the universe and not believe in God. Everything is too structured to be random evolution."

"Maybe your God was a Prothean," Garrus suggested.

"God is not a Prothean," she replied levelly. The very idea was simply preposterous, but she'd heard it before. Discovery of Prothean ruins on Mars had led many to believe that the Protheans were responsible for seeding life on Earth.

"The Hanar worship the Protheans as Gods. They call them 'The Enkindlers'."

"We only have one God, and He's _not_ a Prothean."

"Regardless of whether God is a Prothean or not," Commander Shepard interjected, "you can't deny that the Protheans at least _studied_ primitive humans. The observation post on Mars proves that much, at least."

"I don't deny that," she explained, letting her hands move over the Mako controls as the vehicle reached the summit of the mountain range, "I just don't think God is a Prothean. Hey Commander, why do you think the Council don't believe you about the Prothean Beacon?"

"I don't know," Shepard shrugged. "I suppose it's just easier for them to believe the geth are the main threat."

"It probably doesn't help that Protheans have been romanticized for centuries," Garrus mused, his rumbling voice starting to get on Ashley's nerves. "Every race that reaches the Citadel wants to be like the Protheans. Claiming that the race most people aspire to be like was wiped out by a bunch of sentient machines... well, it sort of ruins peoples' dreams."

Silence fell inside the Mako again as they all considered Garrus' words. It was strange, that other races could seem so... human. She'd thought that humanity's foibles were unique to humanity. That other races could experience fear and anger and happiness, just like humans, and could make mistakes, just like humans, was a new concept to her. She'd always assumed that all asari were old and wise, that all krogans were violent and stupid, that all turians were war-like and single minded. Now, that seemed not to be the case. But it still didn't mean she had to like them.

"Exiting the mountain range," she said, reading from the display on the screen in front of her. "One point five kilometers to signal."

"Tell me a little about your sisters, Chief," said Commander Shepard.

"Er... any particular reason, Commander?" She wasn't used to her COs being this... casual. Still, Shepard was a Spectre, now. She'd heard that that meant the Commander was no longer part of the Alliance chain of command. Maybe that was why Udina behaved like he had a pole up his ass whenever Shepard was around.

"Just trying to get to know my crew a little better. Plus, I never had a family of my own. I like hearing about other peoples'."

"Well, I'm the eldest of four," she said. "Abby's next in line, then Lynn, and Sarah's the baby of the family. She's still in school."

"Are any of your sisters in the military?"

"Nah, they didn't fancy enlisted life. They wanted to do their own thing. Mom and Dad were supportive of all of us, though. Military life runs in my family, but it's not for everyone. I think Mom was secretly glad that I'm the only one to sign up so far. She never said anything, but when Dad was away on deployment, she really missed him. It was hard for her, raising us all on her own. Or dragging us all up, as she sometimes claims."

"At least she had you to help her."

"Yeah, I guess that's why I got such good scores in basic training. Once you've helped to bring up three headstrong girls, issuing commands to a bunch of soldiers is child's play."

"What about you, Garrus? Do you have any siblings?" Shepard asked.

"An older brother and a younger sister," he said. "Jorn and Solana. Neither of them can do any wrong, in my father's eyes."

"And what-"

The Commander was cut off as the world began to shake and the Mako was flipped into the air. The computer began screaming warnings, and Ashley was glad she'd fastened her safety harness. The vehicle spun through the air three times, each spin making her feel like she wanted to throw up her breakfast, and when it finally landed right-side up, smoke was visible outside the small front window, and the HUD showed several serious chassis faults.

"We're showing two wheels blown and we have a leak in the fuel cell," Ashley said, acknowledging several of the warning alerts and silencing some of the alarms.

"What the hell was that?" said Shepard angrily.

"I don't know," said Garrus, frantically examining his computer screen. "I'm not showing any residual traces of explosives which would indicate a bomb, and the ground-penetrating radar should have picked up any subterranean devices."

"What should we do, Commander?" Ashley asked. Small waves of panic were trying to take over her mind, insistently pointing out that she was going to die here on some remote planet, and the worst part was, when they found her body, they'd find it beside a bloody turian.

"Just sit tight for a minute," said Shepard, looking through computer data. "If we hit a minefield, we can't go charging off or we might hit another."

"Trust me, there's no mines out there," Garrus insisted.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I'm going to go out and check out the damage."

"But Commander, it might not be safe!" Ashley objected. Was the woman _crazy_?

"Wait," said Garrus, "I think I know what happened. On the way in, Joker said Edolus is being bombarded by meteors, because of the high gravity of a nearby gas-giant. I think we just got hit by a meteor."

"All the more reason for me to go and inspect the damage," said Shepard. She pulled on her helmet and sealed it, switching on the suit's air filter. "You two might want to put your helmets on too. The atmosphere here is largely nitrogen and carbon dioxide, and when I open the hatch, the Mako's going to lose oxygen.

"This is crazy, Commander!" said Ashley, pulling on her helmet and fastening it tight as Garrus did likewise with his. "What if we're hit again while you're out there?"

"It'll be a quick death," Shepard said with a grim smile. Then she opened the hatch and clambered out onto the roof of the vehicle.

"Maybe we should signal the Normandy to come and collect us," said Garrus worriedly.

"We're not leaving until we've found that missing team of marines," Ashley said, narrowing her eyes at the turian. "We don't leave our people behind."

"I'm not seeing any impact crater on the surface," Shepard said over the comm. "At least, not any recent ones. I don't think we were hit by a meteor."

A light began to flash on the computer console, and a warning alarm started beeping. For a few brief seconds, Ashley looked at the screen, not really sure if she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. But then the thing began to move towards the Mako, and there was no mistaking what it was. She looked out of the window and saw it in the near-distance, rising out of the ground like a huge serpent, an incarnation of the devil himself.

"Commander!" she yelled over the comm. "Thresher maw! What should we do?" There was no response. "Commander?"

"I'll go and get her," said Garrus, hauling himself out of the roof hatch in the blink of an eye. For a moment, Ashley regretted insinuating he was a coward. Anybody who was willing to go _towards_ a thresher to save a team-mate was made of stern stuff. But that _still_ didn't mean she had to like him.

While she waited, she pressed the accelerator, increasing the engine's revs but making sure the brake was on. On the screen, the thresher maw closed; one hundred metres, seventy metres, fifty metres... God, it was fast! In a few seconds it would be on them. That's how it had damaged the Mako in the first place, she realised. It had come up beneath them, through the ground itself.

"Go go go!" said Garrus, dropping back into the interior and pulling the Commander in behind him.

Ashley didn't need to be told twice. She released the brake and the Mako shot forward, rocking violently because of its two damaged wheels. Meanwhile, on the computer display, she monitored the fuel leak, which was increasing at a disturbing rate. And the worst part was, the thresher was not only following them, but slowly overtaking them. It was travelling through the ground even faster than the Mako was travelling over it! How was that possible? The vehicle rumbled as the thresher went beneath it, and anticipating it breaching the surface again, she turned the vehicle in a tight arc, hitting the brake and then accelerating out of the harsh cornering manoeuvre. As the Mako sped away, the thresher appeared on the surface behind them.

"Commander, what do we do? How do we get away from this thing?" she asked desperately. Shepard had fought thresher maws before. She'd know what to do. "Commander?" She looked at the Commander, and saw the woman slumped at her console, staring at the Mako's sidewall, seeing and hearing nothing.

"She was like that on the roof of the Mako," Garrus said quietly. "Just... looking at the thresher maw as it came closer."

"Commander?" she asked, reaching out and shaking her CO's shoulder. It had no effect, and she suspected that the Commander's light N7 armour was the only thing holding her upright. "This is really fucked up," she said, and turned the Mako again as the sensors indicated the thresher was almost level with them.

"I'm going to shoot it the next time it surfaces," said Garrus, charging the mass accelerator cannon.

"But what if firing at it pisses it off?"

"I'd say it's already pissed off, and right now it's just toying with us."

"Alright, here's your chance. Here it comes."

The thresher maw surfaced, and Garrus fired the cannon. It hit the alien creature straight-on, and he began charging the cannon again. "Excuse me, Commander," he said, reaching past Shepard to aim and fire the main gun. Green blood began to ooze from the thresher's body, and it disappeared back into the ground. "I think we wounded it," he said, panting as if he'd just run a mile in ten seconds.

"And it wounded us," she replied with a sinking feeling in her heart. The Mako's computer was indicating all sorts of problems. The worst of which... "Our comm line is fried. We've got no way of contacting the Normandy for evac."

They both looked at the Commander, who was still staring into space and unresponsive. It was obvious they'd get no help from her.

"I could try repairing the comm, but the transmitter array's outside the Mako, and I'm not tech," she admitted, wishing she'd signed up for an engineering class or two back in basic training. Back then, she'd been more interested in guns and tactics than in technology.

"Hmm," he said thoughtfully, his humming voice almost a cat-like purr. She'd never liked cats, always been more of a dog person. "Maybe we don't need to repair the Mako's comm. That signal the Normandy picked up... it's less than a klick from here, and modifying it should be much easier than trying to repair a broken system."

"The last time we went near that signal, a thresher maw jumped us," she pointed out. "What if there's more of them, or the one we injured decides to come back and finish the job?"

"It's like you said, we're low on fuel, you don't know how to repair the array, and I'm not familiar with Alliance technology. I think the signal is our best bet."

"Alright," she acquiesced. "We'll go for the source of the signal. Just keep that cannon charged, because I don't think we can take another hit."

"Don't worry about the cannon, just concentrate on driving."

"I'm not worried, I'm just saying."

"Good."

"Fine."

She turned the Mako in a semi-circle and set off back towards the source of the signal, which showed as a steady blip on her screen. When she was two hundred metres away from the signal, several more shapes appeared on the radar, and she slowed their approach. Garrus, meanwhile, looked out of the small window. After a moment, she heard him exhale sharply through his nose, which made the mandibles on his face flare out. Ashley shuddered at the alienness of the action.

"What do you see?" she asked.

"Remains. They look human. And a damaged vehicle a bit bigger than the Mako."

She slammed on the brakes and joined him at the window, looking out over the ground which was bathed in orange light from the nearby sun. Strewn over the bare rocks were corpses, or the remains of them. It was hard to tell which arms and legs belonged to which bodies, and she didn't particularly feel like doing any jigsaw puzzles today.

"Come on," she said, grabbing her assault rifle, which she had named 'Suzie', and slipping past the Commander to open the roof hatch. Climbing the few stairs of the step-ladder, she pulled herself onto the top of the Mako, then slid down its side, landing on the hard ground. She took off Suzie's safety catch and raised the gun, ready to fire at the first thresher maw to appear. Behind her, she heard Garrus touch the ground, and was relieved to see him carrying his own rifle.

The first body she came to wasn't a pretty sight. It looked like he had been literally torn apart, his armour twisted and warped by the stress forces. The ground around the corpse was dark red; the blood was dry, he'd obviously been here for a while. Because the planet lacked an oxygen environment, and it had no bacterial life - that she was aware of, at least - decomposition of the body was minimal. Once, this would have been a horrific sight. It would have made her sick and given her nightmares. Now, it simply couldn't compare to seeing the colonists of Eden Prime being impaled on the geth spikes. It was nothing compared to seeing those colonists transformed into mindless husks. Yes, this was a bad situation, but she could handle it. She had to, because nobody else could.

"See to getting that signal working for us," she told Garrus, gesturing at the nearby beacon with her gun. He nodded and got to work, using his omni-tool to examine the thing. Ashley turned away and left him to it. He'd get it working, or he wouldn't, but tech held no interest for her. Instead, she went to each body in turn and removed their dog-tags. When she had all five, and knew their names, she said a prayer for them, asking God to take their souls into his care and give them the peace in death that they hadn't found in life. Then she asked Him to watch over their families, to give them the strength to carry on, because she knew first-hand how hard it was to lose somebody you loved.

"I've got something," Garrus said when she'd finished with her prayers. She rose from the ground where she had been crouching over the last marine and turned to look at him. "I can't program a message, the beacon is far too simple for that. All it's designed to do is transmit noise on a single frequency. That's probably what your Admiral Kahoku found so suspicious about it. But we can stop and start the signal at will. Hopefully, once the Normandy detects the fluctuation in the signal, they'll come and investigate."

"Then this is what you need to do," she said, thinking back to her basic training. "Play out this pattern over the beacon." She tapped her comm button on her helmet to create noise, whilst she mentally counted _dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot._ "Got it?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's a simple enough pattern. But what does it mean?"

"It's an SOS in an old Earth electrical coding system called Morse."

"SOS?"

"It means 'save our souls'. It's a general mayday."

"Mayday?"

She could hear the confusion in his voice. "It just means 'help'," she said, hoping that would satisfy him. Apparently it did, and he went back to the beacon and began transmitting what she hoped was the right signal pattern. With her gun still ready for action, she turned back to the marines and their ruined M29 Grizzly vehicle, and cast her eyes over the scene. What had happened here was a tragedy, but clearly not an accident. There was no reason for that beacon to have been put here. There was nothing of interest to warrant it, other than the thresher maw. And that itself raised more questions than answers. She just hoped that the Commander would snap out of it soon, and starting searching for some of those answers.

o - o - o - o - o

Inside the Mako, Garrus ran his eyes over the computer displays. Though human Alliance tech was largely unfamiliar to him, he was a fast learner, and no special training was required to interpret these displays; they were as clear as Palavan crystal. Two of the Mako's wheels were damaged beyond repair. Its communications transmitter was out of action, and its descent thrusters were malfunctioning due to the impact of the thresher maw, essentially making the vehicle crippled and mute. So here he was, trapped on an uninhabitable planet with a pissed-off thresher maw, his only allies an unresponsive Spectre and a human soldier who would likely have shot him already if she thought she could get away with it. He was certain he had been in worse situations before, but right now, he struggled to bring them to mind.

He glanced to his side, to the woman who sat silent and unmoving at the main gun station. The only explanation he could think of was that the thresher maw had done something to her. He could think of no other reason for her to be like this. If he hadn't pulled her back into the Mako after she had gone out to inspect the damaged, she would have been torn apart, just like those marines. He hoped the Alliance appreciated that he'd saved their first Spectre from a grisly fate.

With nothing left to do inside, he climbed up the ladders and walked out onto the top of the vehicle before jumping down to the ground. The Normandy would come. Rescue would be swift, but unfortunately not instantaneous. The thought of the Normandy brought a smile to his face. It felt good to be serving aboard a ship again... indeed, it had been several years since he had last been aboard one. And what a ship! No expense had been spared in its construction. No corners had been cut. There had been no rough edges to smooth over. Even the design of it was perfect, and comfortingly familiar. Though it was manned by humans - and he had to admit, he had nothing against humans. He'd even started to become friends with some of the human C-Sec officers - it was still a turian ship, at least as far as the design was concerned. He felt at home aboard the Normandy, in a way he would not have done aboard any other Alliance vessel.

Making his way towards the signal beacon, he saw Chief Williams clamber out of the other vehicle, the one that had already been here, and make her way towards him. She still carried her gun, which was smart. There was no telling where the hresher was or when it would be back. Which in itself presented a problem.

"The Grizzly's gun is fried," Williams said, sitting down on a crate which stood beside the beacon. Her voice over the helmet's built-in radio sounded tired. "Best I can tell is that it was corroded with some sort of acid. Looks like one of the older registrations, so it's probably seen too much action."

"What about the wheels?" he asked. "Are they all functional?"

"As far as I can see. But if you're thinking about taking wheels off the Grizzly and putting them on the Mako, it won't work. They're completely different wheel types." She glanced back, at the stricken Mako. "Commander Shepard told me that, while she was explaining the improvements the Mako has over the old M29s."

Because he had been a good C-Sec officer, he recognised the apprehension in Williams' voice and posture. He feelings were understandable, if badly timed. "Have you known the Commander long?" he asked.

"Just since Eden Prime," Williams said with a shrug. She turned the movement into a roll of her shoulders, loosening the muscles and working out the tension. "But everybody knows Commander Shepard. She's the hero of Akuze."

"Akuze?"

"One of our colonies. It's still young. But a few years ago, the Alliance lost contact with the first group of pioneers sent there. They sent in soldiers to investigate, and the Commander's unit was one of those included. The entire unit, along with the pioneers, were slaughtered by thresher maws. Shepard was the only one to make it out alive. Nobody knows how, but the extraction team found the charred remains of at least three threshers. However she managed to survive, she took a few of the monsters down."

"Do you think her current... state... might have something to do with whatever she endured on Akuze?" he suggested.

Williams shrugged again. "Probably. But I'm not a doctor, so there's not much I can do for her. Once we get back to the Normandy, we'll get Chakwas to look her over, figure out what's wrong."

He nodded, and turned his attention back to his former thoughts. Whatever had happened to Shepard was out of his hands for the moment, and right now, he had bigger things to worry about. Much bigger. Deciding on a course of action, he made a suggestion that he knew would not go down well.

"I think we should try to take out the thresher."

"What, are you nuts?" she demanded, standing up to address him at an equal height. Or at least, slightly more equal than when she had been sitting down. As a human, she would never be as tall as him. "The thresher is gone. We wounded it. For the moment, we're safe. My dad used to say there's no point sticking your hand in a viper's nest and looking for trouble."

He'd been expecting her reaction, and had prepared several logical points, which he now laid out before her. "I think the threshers are attracted to noise," he explained. "Or at least, vibration. That would explain why it is here, near this beacon. But when it heard or felt us coming, we looked like too good a target to pass up. Maybe it thought we'd make a better meal. Regardless, for now it's gone, but that might be because we wounded it, or maybe because we're not making enough noise or vibration. Now, the Mako's thrusters are not working, and neither you nor I have the expertise to repair them. To collect us, the Normandy will have to land. We'll have to walk to it, and then a whole lot of people are going to have to haul the Mako onto it. What do you think that thresher maw will do, when it hears so much movement going on?"

"Oh god. I hadn't thought of that," Williams admitted. "We need to turn this signal off. We can't let the Normandy land."

"Wait," he said, stalling her as she reached for the transmitter. "I have an idea. It's crazy, though."

"Tell me."

"We lure the thresher here and kill it before the Normandy arrives."

"Lure it how? You already said that we might not be making enough noise to coax it now that it's been injured. We could use the Mako, but it's pretty badly beaten. It wouldn't be able to dodge the thresher."

"It doesn't need to." He gestured towards the other vehicle. "That one doesn't have damaged wheels, only a damaged gun. One of us can drive it to lure in the thresher and keep the creature busy, whilst the other fires the Mako's weapons."

"You're right. That's a crazy idea." She sighed in defeat. "But I have nothing better. The Normandy could probably take out the thresher from low altitude, but if she lands, she will be a sitting duck. And with our comm down..."

"We have no way of telling them not to land. Unless you know the 'Morse' sequence for 'don't land on the planet, there's a deadly thresher maw lurking nearby'."

"I knew I should have paid more attention during communications lessons," she said wryly, and then glanced at the Grizzly. "I don't suppose you know how to drive one of those?"

"Not a clue."

"Me neither. But I suppose I've had about ten minutes' more experience than you of driving these types of things. Which makes me the expert. I'll take the Grizzly. You fire the Mako's guns. How's your aim?"

"Don't worry, Chief. A thresher's a big target. But we better get moving... I doubt it's going to take long for the Normandy to show up and start trying to land."

The young woman nodded, shouldered her gun and dashed back to the Grizzly. Garrus waited until she was almost there, then clambered back into the Mako. Shepard was still there, still unmoving, and he reached past her to bring the main gun back online and charge it to full power. Williams' voice, when it came through over his helmet comm, did not sound hopeful.

"I'm not even sure if this thing will start," she said. "Or how much power it will have left to dodge if it _does_ start. When that Thresher shows, you better take it out fast, because if I run out of juice, I'm toast."

He shook his head at her excessive use of colloquialism. It was a good thing he'd spent time around humans, otherwise he would never have understood that running out of juice meant running out of power, or that being 'toast' did not mean being a slice of heated bread, but in fact meant something far less pleasant.

"Before you know it," he replied, calibrating the mass effect cannon as he spoke, "you'll be wishing I was able to consume human drinks without going into anaphylactic shock, just so you could buy me one to celebrate my despatching the thresher maw in an efficient and timely manner."

"Right," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Then, over the helmet radio, came the sound of an engine starting up. "Well, so far so good. Are you ready with those weapons?"

"Ready and waiting," he assured her.

"Then let's make some noise."

* * *

A/N: Yes, I'm still alive. And in anticipation of my copy of ME3 arriving any day now, I thought I'd take a moment to revisit our good friends on the SR1.


	15. On Your Shoulders

Deus Ex Machina

A/N: I had a lot of fun writing these next three chapters. I hope you have a lot of fun reading them. With luck they'll give some food for thought.

* * *

_15. On your shoulders_

Standing beside Navigator Pressly, Kaidan once more forced his clenched fists open. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The transmission, which had been steady up until ten minute ago, had suddenly started to fluctuate. Not randomly, but with purpose and rhythm. The rhythm of an old-style Morse SOS. It was something taught to all Alliance soldiers, even those who went through only basic training. The ability to summon help was considered of prime importance, which meant either Ellie or Chief Williams was in trouble. Or, and this was infinitely more likely, they both were.

Kaidan did not consider himself old-fashioned. He knew that women could take care of themselves. Especially when they were soldiers. And especially when they were Eloise Shepard. It was just... this was the first mission she had ever gone on without him. Ever since they had begun working together, after her graduation from the N7 training program, they had not been separated. Even when they were granted time off for shore leave, he took Ellie with him, because she was an orphan with no family. And besides, his mother liked her.

He understood why he'd needed to stay behind. The Mako could comfortably fit three people inside it - as long as one of those wasn't a krogan, in which case three was a tight squeeze. And four people was just about manageable, but there would be very little room to move around. And since Ellie had already promised the turian that he could go, and she'd told Williams she was going to teach her how to drive ship-vehicles, there was no more room. It was supposed to have been safe. It was supposed to have been just a routine search mission. He should have volunteered to lead the mission himself. There was no need for Ellie to have seen to this personally. Hadn't she already been through enough? It was his fault she had been caught up in the Prothean beacon's grip. He owed her one, and this should have been it.

"Ease her in nice and slowly, Joker," said Pressly to the pilot over the comm.

Kaidan grated his teeth, fighting back his impatience. He felt a familiar pain in the back of his head; a migraine beginning to form, the pressure already building up at the top of his spine. But it would be some time before it hit him properly. Time enough to make sure his best friend was okay. He knew why Pressly was being so careful; Normandy was brand new. She hadn't been able to do a proper shakedown cruise, and her landing equipment was still largely untested. Pressly was worried about the SOS just as much as Kaidan was, but the XO had a whole ship full of other people to think of, whereas Kaidan's main concern was Ellie.

And Williams and Garrus, of course.

"I've locked onto the site of the transmission, sir," said Joker's disembodied voice. "Putting us down two hundred and fifty metres away from it. Prepare for landing. Might want to consider discharging the FLT drive whilst we're planet-bound, sir. We ran straight here from Therum."

"Very well. Once we've landed and located our crew-members, begin discharging the drive," Pressly replied. When the comm channel closed, the older man turned to face Kaidan. "Lieutenant, I'd like you to lead a team of marines to examine the source of the transmission we're receiving. But for god's sake, be careful. That we've lost contact with the Mako does not bode well, and we don't have another vehicle to send you out in."

"Aye, sir," he said with a salute. Finally, some orders. Finally, something to do. No more waiting around. "I'll tell the team to suit up immediately."

o - o - o - o - o

Seated atop the Mako, Ashley Williams checked over her gun. She knew it was in perfect condition because she took it apart, cleaned it and put it back together on a weekly basis, and tested it every day. Still, it didn't hurt to be sure. Every once in a while, she would lift her gaze from her assault rifle to eye the still-smouldering thresher maw corpse. The thing was huge, as long as a house and had vicious tentacles around its mouth. After Garrus - who suddenly looked a _lot_ less weird, in the presence of the colossal behemoth - had shot the thing to hell with the Mako's gun, Ash had fired a round of ammo into the immobile creature's head just to make sure it really _was_ dead and not just faking it.

There was sound from below, and Garrus's head appeared in the access hatch, his eyes immediately travelling to the thresher corpse before the rest of his body followed his head. She had to admit, he'd done good work. Not that she had to like him because of it - perish the thought - but he'd definitely scored one for them team, with his suggestion and then the implementation of his plan.

"She's still catatonic," Garrus said. "But she appears to be breathing just fine, and she hasn't lost consciousness. How long do you think it will take the Normandy to reach us?"

"About ten seconds," she replied, her ears picking up the familiar sound of a ship approaching through atmosphere. It was a sound she had heard countless times, and during those countless times, she had wished she was serving aboard one. In the past she'd been left planet-side to look up at departing ships, but now when the ship departed, she would be on it. Her father would have been proud of her.

Normandy appeared from the upper-atmosphere looking sleek and powerful, her engines humming as she slowed her descent. Joker, of course, did a masterful job of landing her, touching down gently, the ship's landing pods making smooth contact with the planet surface, like a lover's caress. As soon as she was down, a short distance from the thresher body, the cargo bay door opened and a unit of men spilled out. She felt relief when she saw them led by Lieutenant Alenko. She liked the Lieutenant, he was calm and not easily given to panic. A biotic, he was also very tolerant of others. He didn't even seem to mind the aliens aboard Normandy.

"What happened?" Alenko asked, eyeing the corpse as he passed it. "And where's the commander?"

With the Normandy now in range, there was no need for the Mako's transmitter. She tapped the comm button on her helmet to reply to the Lieutenant.

"We had a minor thresher problem, sir," she said, saluting him when he was in front of her. "Mako's damaged, including the transmitter. The commander's inside it. We think she's maybe in shock. She's awake, but it's like her mind's not there."

"Get her out of there," he said, turning to address two of the marines. They saluted him and hurried to the vehicle. Lieutenant Alenko turned back to study the thresher corpse in closer detail. Kneeling down beside it, he ran one gloved hand over its rough body. "My god, it's huge. I knew they could grow big, but this is… it's massive."

"There's twice as much again underground," said Garrus, pointing to the exit tunnel. "It killed the marines sent here by your Admiral Kahoku. We found… parts. I'm not sure you should try to take them away for a burial… it might be distressing to the families. But the Chief managed to find all their… dogtags, I believe you call them?"

"Good work, you two. I'm impressed," said the Lieutenant. Then, as the two marines manhandled the commander out of the Mako, he turned his attention towards his commanding officer. Taking her by the shoulders, he shook her, trying to get a reaction. "Commander Shepard, can you hear me?" he asked. "Commander? Ellie?"

Ash knew it was futile. She had already tried the same thing. Garrus had already tried the same thing. Right now, wherever Commander Shepard was, it wasn't Edolus.

Kaidan tapped the comm button on his helmet. "Lieutenant Alenko to Normandy, please patch me through to Doctor Chakwas. Doctor? Prepare to receive a patient, I'm bringing in the commander. She's not injured, but she's in shock." He nodded to the two marines. "Take her to the doc. Williams, you go with them... the doctor will probably want a full account of what happened here, so she can decide how best to treat the commander."

"Aye, sir!" she said, saluting once more. Following the marines as they manoeuvered the still-unseeing Shepard back to the ship, she heard Alenko issuing some final commands.

"Pressly, it looks like the Mako's taken damage. Get a crew out here ASAP... we'll need to haul it back inside before Joker starts discharging the engine core. And send another engineering crew to salvage what data they can from the Grizzly. Something tells me Admiral Kahoku is going to want to see all the available information for himself."

o - o - o - o - o

_Chief Medical Officer's log_

_Dr K. Chakwas_

_Date: 23-06-2183 CE_

_Time: 21:09 ship time_

During the recon mission to Edolus requested by Admiral Kahoku, I received an urgent call from Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko requesting urgent medical assistance for Commander Shepard. The commander was brought to me by the Lieutenant and Gunnery Chief Williams in what appeared to be a state of waking coma, indicative of intense shock and stress.

The Commander was initially unresponsive to external stimuli. As I checked for physiological abnormalities, Chief Williams apprised me of the events leading up to the Commander's state. The ground-team had encountered a thresher maw on the surface of Edolus, and Commander Shepard had been outside of the Mako vehicle when the alien life-form appeared. After failing to respond to Williams' queries, the commander was retrieved from the outside of the vehicle by turian former C-Sec officer Garrus Vakarian.

Having familiarised myself with Shepard's military record prior to the start of our mission to Eden Prime, I came to the conclusion that Shepard's unresponsive state was due to a symptom of acute post-traumatic stress, stemming from her previous experience on Akuze, in which she was the sole survivor of a thresher maw attack.

Using a combination of chemical therapy and hormone inducement, I was able to revive Commander Shepard to a responsive state, and kept her in the med-bay for an hour for observation. During this time I recommended that the commander undergo a course of counselling therapy to help her overcome her fears and the trauma she has experienced on both Akuze and Edolus. It is my professional opinion that Shepard has never truly come to terms with the events of Akuze, and that she was pushed too fast into the N7 training programme at the expense of her mental well-being. As I cannot imagine such negligence being committed by an Alliance military doctor, I can only assume that this decision came from higher up the chain of command. Regardless, I will be lodging a formal complaint with the Alliance military forthwith.

Unfortunately, Shepard proved quite unwilling to pursue this avenue, claiming, in her own words, that "Spectres don't need counselling." As such treatment falls outside of my remit, I am unable to make any sort of therapy a mandatory requirement for Shepard. Against my express wishes, Shepard discharged herself from the med-bay and returned to duties. That such a normally sensible and logical soldier can blindly ignore the warning signs of her own mind struggling to cope with recent events, only serves to further my belief that Shepard is under a great deal of stress and that her judgement may be impaired.

I will be submitting a formal recommendation that Shepard be taken off active duty immediately, for the good of herself and the Normandy's crew, but I fully expect my recommendation to be blocked at the highest level. It wouldn't do to have humanity's first Spectre recalled from active duty due to a few 'emotional hiccups', as I'm sure they will call it.

_End log_

o - o - o - o - o

Eloise Shepard had problems. She had more problems than she knew what to do with, and she didn't know which of them to try to address first. For the first time since she had been lifted off Akuze by the evac team, she was unable to cope. Her lack of ability to cope in turn made her feel useless, and an oppressive weight settled over her, which served to exacerbate her feeling of helplessness. It was a vicious cycle, and one that she couldn't see a way out of. So instead of trying to fix her problems, she tried to make them go away by using one of the oldest methods known to humanity; the consumption of large quantities of alcohol.

She was already on her third bottle of something alcoholic. The first had been a very nice red wine gifted to her by some brown-nose Alliance diplomat upon her promotion to Spectre, which she had drunk within twenty minutes of opening. The second had been a bottle of champagne that Captain Anderson had given her when command of the Normandy had been transferred to her, and that had gone down almost as fast as the wine. She didn't know what drink was in the third bottle, and she didn't care where it had come from. It was alcohol, and she drank it because she knew it would eventually start to work properly. For now, there seemed to be something wrong with it. She didn't feel relaxed or care-free. She felt angry, at herself and everybody around her, and the music - a slow medley of the husky droning of Tom Waits - only served to darken her mood.

Had she not been so depressed and angry and on her way to inebriation, she would have recognised that the alcohol in her blood-stream was having a strengthening effect on the drugs and hormones Dr Chakwas had pumped into her body, and that her own near-thresher experience had sent her body's sympathetic nervous system into overload. Flooded with adrenaline and drugs and other hormones, she had gone beyond hyper-awareness, past hyper-vigilance, and was now foraying into the dangerous territory of paranoia.

Akuze… Edolus… they were no mere coincidences. Somebody had lured those marines out here under the orders of Admiral Kahoku, using a transmission to draw them in. Her first thought was that Kahoku himself had arranged it, but that made little sense. She'd had hardly any dealings with Kahoku before this mission, and there was no logic in him sending his own men to their deaths. Clearly the conspiracy went much deeper. What if Akuze hadn't been an accident, either? What if somebody had released thresher maws on the planet… or drawn them to the colonists and her own marine squad?

It wasn't difficult for her drug-addled mind to come up with both a suspect and a motive. Following on from her former musings, that her entire career had been engineered by her superiors in the Alliance military, wasn't it therefore a logical conclusion that they had also engineered the events on Akuze? Everybody liked heroes, and the Alliance had needed them at that time. Skirmishes with the batarians were increasing in frequency; every day, more and more human colonists were dragged off into a life of slavery. The military had needed a victory. They'd needed to show people back home that they were making a difference. They'd needed to get the message to the colonists that survival _was_ possible despite the odds. How convenient, then, that she'd managed to escape Akuze with her life.

She wrapped herself in the paranoia because whilst she was concentrating on conspiracies and deception, she did not need to think about what had happened. She had let her people down. She had gotten her entire unit killed on Akuze. She had frozen on Edolus, and been of absolutely no use to Ashley and Garrus. If it hadn't been for the Chief's fast driving and Garrus' sharp shooting, they would all be dead.

When she had seen the thresher approaching the Mako, her mind had taken her back four years, back to that moment on Akuze, that moment she thought she had gotten over long ago. She had thought she'd worked past all of the guilt and the stark fear, but she knew, now, that she had only been repressing it. Now it was revisited to her ten-fold. The screams of dying men and women… Miguel's strangled cry as the thresher had ripped him clean in half…

She took another swig of whatever was in the bottle, and heard the door chime activate. She ignored it. It wasn't difficult. Tom Waits was currently growling his way through _16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six_, and she had the volume up high. The chime sounded twice more before falling silent. But then came the sound of somebody overriding the door access control. Knowing who was about to come nosing into her business, she took another drink from the bottle.

The door slid open and Kaidan stepped into the room. Just one of him; she hadn't had enough drink to cause her to see multiples yet. He looked around, taking in the dim lighting, the two empty bottles discarded on the table, and the half-empty bottle in her hand.

"I locked that door for a reason," she said, surprised and pleased by how sober she sounded.

"I know." He picked up her jacket, which she had casually discarded on the second chair, and placed it to one side, taking the seat for himself. Looking at him, illuminated in shadowy half-light, made her vision start to swim, and she blinked to clear her eyes as he continued. "You locked it to keep people out. But you don't have the luxury of that."

"Did Chakwas send you?" she asked, her mind once more reaching for an ulterior motive. It would be just like the Doctor, to conscript Kaidan into talking her into therapy.

"No, Ellie, she didn't. Doctor Chakwas is a professional, who follows the ethics of 'doctor-patient confidentiality'. You'd have remembered that yourself, if you were… well."

"There's nothing wrong with me!" she insisted. Who did he think he was? "I'm just well on my way to being merrily pissed." Maybe, suggested one dark voice, Kaidan was in on it. Maybe he had been from the start. He was one of the first people she'd seen on Arcturus… it couldn't be coincidence that she'd been assigned to his unit after her training had been complete. Aghast, and angry at herself for not noticing sooner, she realised that he'd been watching her all these years, reporting back to the Alliance brass about her every movement. "Get out," she said, her voice low and her eyes narrowed at the man who was closer than a brother to her. "Make up whatever tales you like for your masters. I won't let them put me through hoops any longer."

"Ellie, you're not making sense. What hoops? What masters? I answer to exactly the same people as you. Or at least, I did before you became a Spectre and started having to answer to the Coun-"

"Ha!" she scoffed. "I know what's going on, Kaidan. I know what they're doing."

"They who?"

She waved the bottle in her hand in a vague manner, spilling some of the liquid on her shirt. "You know. They. Them. I don't know who they are. Maybe you don't even know. Maybe they tell you one thing and show you another… smoke and mirrors, like those old magicians."

"Those extranet vids are going to rot your mind one of these days," he sighed. Sitting forward, he reached out for her hand, but she backed away in the chair, out of his reach. She couldn't trust a word Kaidan said anymore. Had her whole unit been in on it, too? "Tell me why you think people are putting you through hoops."

"As if you don't know!" she snorted. "But fine. I'll tell you. Then you'll see how I've worked it all out for myself and you'll be forced to admit it." She took another swill of the bottle and pulled her face in disgust. Suddenly, whatever was in there tasted foul. Putting the bottle on the coffee table next to its empty brethren, she stood and paced unsteadily, trying to bring some semblance of order to her thoughts. She had to make sure she made sense when she unveiled the deception.

"It's all like some big machine, full of little cogs and wheels and levers, working alone to work together to move something bigger than themselves. They find us and they build us up from scratch, then spit us out into the world, letting us think that we're doing it all ourselves-"

"Us?" Kaidan asked.

"People like me. Anderson. They manufacture us and put us up on pedestals to be worshipped like human gods. And when things go wrong and we fall down, they just put somebody else in our place. Like they replaced Anderson with me, when his try at being a Spectre failed. And when I fail, they'll just find some new miniature god to idolise for all of five minutes."

"Ellie, you know I love you and all, but I can quite honestly tell you that _nobody_ is idolising you or worshipping you as a god. Nobody over the age of six years old, at least. I don't even know how you could get from what happened on Edolus to thinking that you've been raised up as some god-like figure by somebody who's been secretly engineering your career."

"You don't know! You weren't there!" she snapped angrily. The paranoia was beginning to subside. She wanted him to deny being involved in any such dealings, tell her that it wouldn't even be logistically possible for somebody to have orchestrated her entire life just to put her in this moment. If he tried to claim ignorance she could argue. If he denied the possibility and his involvement, she could fight it. But without that denial, she had nothing to push against.

"I know I wasn't there, and I'm sorry that I wasn't. If there had been more room in the Mako-"

"I'm not talking about Edolus! I'm talking about Akuze! You weren't there. Nobody was there. Only I was there. The 'hero of Akuze' doesn't exist. There's no such thing. It was just a fabrication. Just like the rest of my career. I'm probably not even a real Spectre. They just pretend I am to keep Anderson quiet."

"So now the _Council_ is in one this whole… machination?"

She didn't respond. She had no answer for that. The way Kaidan said it made it sound as if she was crazy. And she knew why. Of course the Council couldn't be part of the plans to manipulate her via some hidden agenda. They probably hadn't given her another thought once she had left the Citadel.

"Ellie," Kaidan said softly. He didn't move, but he gave her his full attention. In the background, Tom Waits sang about the Town with No Cheer. "I know you better than anyone. We've served together for years. I know you're not a coward. I know you're not the type of person who freezes in combat. Remember that time three batarians rushed you at once? You took the first one out with a head shot, dropped the second with a hefty groin-kick, and shot the last at point-blank in the chest."

"I remember," she said, recalling the moment as if it had happened yesterday. "Sidon. Third day into our campaign. We overloaded their weapons so they couldn't shoot but they weren't for going out without a fight."

"That's right." He stood up and took a couple of steps towards her, remaining just out of arm's reach. And, because he knew she'd had traditional martial arts training, he remained just out of kicking range too. "You've never told me about Akuze before, and I've never asked, because I know it was hard on you. But I think you need to tell me. Or if not me, somebody else. Whatever happened there is still with you. What if you encounter another thresher? You can't keep letting yourself be controlled by your demons. You have to control them. Isn't that part of what being a Spectre is all about?"

"I haven't read the Spectre manual yet."

He gave her a brief smile, before pushing forward again.

"Please tell me what happened on Akuze."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because you'll think less of me."

"Ellie, I'm not here because of your newfound god-complex. I'm not here because you're a Spectre, or a Commander, or captaining a great ship. It's because you're my friend, and we have a job to do. I'll follow you across the galaxy because I know you're a good person, and that you're fighting for the right things. Nothing you can say or do would make me think less of you."

She turned to look out of the window, at the stars twinkling in the blackness of space. Without orders the ship was simply drifting around Edolus, waiting for its captain - in name, if not in rank - to tell it what to do. Leaning forward, she rested her head against the glass. It was cool and refreshing, serving to centre her a little in the present. When she spoke, it was quietly, and she knew that Kaidan was straining to hear her over the music, but she couldn't bring herself to speak louder. The louder you talked, the more people heard, and she never wanted anybody to hear about this.

"Fifty of us were sent to Akuze. We thought it would be simple. We hadn't counted on the threshers. They were on us before we even knew it. Within thirty seconds, twenty-eight soldiers were dead. The rest of us… we scattered. It was chaos. The officers tried to keep order, but it was near impossible. The threshers… they seemed to be working together, herding us. Try to run one way, and one would rise out of the ground and kill a man or two right before your eyes."

She pulled her head away from the window, to stare at her own reflection. Even now, her eyes looked pale and haunted.

"A few of us managed to get away. We saw high ground and headed for it. There wasn't any chance of getting back to our Grizzlies… I think there were eight of us in total, who made it into the rocky hills. One of them was an officer, and another was my friend, Miguel. He'd followed me from the gang, into the military. We were… close." She turned to look at Kaidan, to stall the accusation before he could speak it. "I know we weren't supposed to be. It was against the rules. But all we had was each other. We'd been best friends for years, and more than that since before we even enlisted. Neither of us wanted to stop what we had. There was no harm in it. I got the implant. I wasn't going to get pregnant."

He held his hands up to stall her well-rehearsed litany. "I'm not here to judge you, Ellie. And I think I can understand, about you and your friend. Sometimes, things just happen. Sometimes they're meant to be, and sometimes they're not. I think the universe has a way of… making things right."

"There are some things you can never make right, Kaidan." She turned back to the window, back to the stars. Out there, somewhere, orbiting one of the twinkling suns, was Akuze. The place that had changed her. The place where she should have died. "One of the officers came up with a plan. He knew that the chances of us surviving were slim, but that our best chance was to get back to the Grizzlies, use their weapons to take out the threshers. He planned it so that we'd split up into pairs; Miguel and I were given the task of getting back to the vehicles. The others were going to act as decoys until we could return. The pairs set off to make some noise at ten second intervals, going in different directions. Miguel and I were supposed to wait ten seconds after the last group, then head out for the Grizzlies. I couldn't do it. I couldn't leave the safety of the small cave we'd found. Miguel pleaded with me to go with him… said he couldn't do it without me. Said that if we had any chance of saving our people, we had to do it together." She closed her eyes and felt warm tears begin to trickle down her cheeks. "And he was right. He left. He had to. He didn't make it a hundred metres before the threshers got to him. I watched from the cave as they tore him apart. I listened to his scream as the life was ripped out of him. It didn't take the threshers long to finish off the other pairs. Then I was alone."

"Oh Ellie, I'm so sorry." There was horror and sympathy in his voice. "To have witnessed that… I knew you'd been through something bad, but I had no idea. I didn't know you lost someone you loved."

"I don't know how long I was in that cave for." Her gaze was unfocused, now. She didn't see the stars; all she saw was the darkness of the cave. "Every once in a while I'd open the comm line on my helmet and ask if there was anybody else alive. Same message every time. 'This is Serviceman Shepard, does anybody read me? Is there anybody out there?' All I got back was static. I knew everybody was dead, but I couldn't help myself. I kept putting out the call, because the alternative was to sit there and go mad. Eventually, though, even the battery in my helmet died."

"Those things are designed to last for five days! You were alone all that time?"

"After my helmet radio battery died, I stretched my food rations out for another day, and water rations for another two days after that. I think that was when I realised I was alive. But I knew I wouldn't live much longer. I was alone, no food, no water, nobody to turn to for help. I'd never been alone before… I don't think I do alone very well."

"But you survived," he said, and there was no mistaking the appreciation in his voice. "And not only did you survive, you took out three threshers. The evac team found you surrounded by their blown-up parts… that's how they'd known you killed them. How did you do it?"

"It was dark, in that cave. I was as deep inside it as I could get. I had no idea what was happening outside, or even whether it was night or day. I realised that when we didn't report in, the Alliance would send another team to investigate. Sure, they'd be careful, as we were… but not careful enough. I knew it would happen again. Thought I could stop that. Thought I could break the cycle. By this point I was exhausted, dehydrated, hungry and in shock. I may not have been thinking clearly. In the darkness of that cave, I remembered something that had happened years earlier. One of the rival gangs where I grew up had planned to hijack a weapons cache from a storage warehouse on the outskirts of London. They knew that a shipment was being transferred to the space-port, to be shipped out to whatever ship had requisitioned them. The leader of my gang, a man I knew only as Drax, saw an opportunity."

"You ambushed them and took the weapons for yourself?"

A smile tugged briefly at the corners of her mouth. "No. Drax was far cleverer than that. In many ways, he was my first teacher. When the gang first took me, he kept an eye on me, made sure none of the guys got too… familiar. I was the only woman in the gang at the time… barely more than a child. I respected Drax, guess I looked up to him a bit. Others did, too. Most gang leaders, and a lot of gang members, ruled by fear. Drax ruled by his wits. He knew that the other gang would be expecting an ambush. They'd be well-armed. Prepared. Ambushing them would have ended in a blood bath. So he decided to let them have the weapons."

"I'm guessing he wasn't motivated by charity," Kaidan said wryly.

"Hardly. The night before the transfer was due to take place, which was when the raid was meant to go down, one of his thieves, a guy who called himself 'Gambit', after an old comic book hero, broke us into the warehouse." She smiled. "I learnt a lot from Drax, but I learnt far more about hacking and larceny from Gambit. Anyway, Gambit and I rigged the weapons being shipped, causing a gradual build-up of power in the cells of the weapons, which would cause an explosion when fired. Drax wanted us to sabotage the whole shipment so that when the other gang tried to use the guns, there would be a catastrophic power overload, and they'd backfire and explode instead."

"Tricky," Kaidan said, a thoughtful expression on his face as he considered the situation. "The other gang would probably have guessed at what was happening after the first explosion, and stopped using the weapons after that. Wouldn't have taken out more than two or three."

"Which is why we chained the weapons using a micro-network processor. Firing one gun would cause them all to explode. Drax reckoned the entire shipment would be right in the middle of the other gang's HQ by then."

"Did it work?"

"With devastating effect. The weapons were prototypes using some new power core. The result of them all exploding in one place together… it wasn't so much a building left afterwards, but a crater."

"A clever plan. But why did you recall that particular memory whilst you were in the cave on Akuze?"

She turned to face Kaidan, using her sleeve to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She had control of her emotions again, now. The brief mental interlude, the return to a different time of her life, had helped take her mind off Akuze and Edolus. Able to detach herself from the memory, she explained.

"The six soldiers who'd gone decoy needed to move fast, so they'd left all their heavier weapons in the cave, taking only their side-arms. I rigged them to overload, just like I'd done for Drax, only at a much faster rate. Then I changed their programming, to allow me to use my omni-tool to trigger a remote detonation. I planned to lure the threshers to me, drop the guns and trigger the explosion from a safe distance. I hoped to be far enough away from them that I'd survive the blast. I knew there was an emergency transmitter in the Grizzlies, and I wanted to send a warning message to the next rescue team, tell them to plan for threshers, so that I could stop the cycle of death.

"My overload plan worked. Too well. Once I'd programmed the weapons I picked them all up, left the cave, and ran. And sure enough, the threshers appeared. I dropped the guns, but the threshers were too fast. I tried to move away but they just went through the ground and came up in front of me. I had to double-back to the weapons, and as I passed them, as I heard the threshers closing on me, I triggered the overload program. I was caught up in the explosion. Knocked unconscious. Next thing I knew, I woke up in some med lab on Arcturus. I should have died. I don't know why I didn't."

"What you did was incredibly brave," said Kaidan. "And very clever."

"It was desperate. I was only in that position because I'd been too afraid to obey orders. Too scared of what the threshers would do to me. I let Miguel go out there alone. I let him down. I let the unit down."

"If you'd gone out there, you would probably have died too. The plan was a bad one. The officer in charge should have ordered you all to wait for rescue."

She shook her head. "With the rations we had, we could only have fed eight soldiers for two days. We would have died of dehydration days before the rescue team came. If I'd gone with Miguel, I might have made it back to one of the Grizzlies. I could have rescued what was left of my unit. Because of me, seven men died."

"Because of _thresher maws_, seven men died," he corrected. "You didn't order the unit to Akuze. You weren't an officer. They weren't your responsibility. You did what you had to do to stay alive. And when you realised you were out of options, you did everything you could to prevent the situation from reoccurring."

"You weren't there." Kaidan could only look back as a dispassionate observer, with the benefit of hindsight. He had not spent four years living with guilt. He had not spent four years carrying the deaths of seven soldiers on his shoulders. He had not left his best friend to die alone.

"I know. And I'm sorry. I think you made the right choice, though." He stepped forwards to wrap his arms around her in a comforting hug, and she felt some of the tension leave her body. His closeness made her realise she was missing the other three members of her unit quite keenly; the four men had always been able to cheer her up with their antics. Now she only had Kaidan. What would she do if she lost him? Alone, without a single friend to turn to, she was very afraid that she would fall apart.

"Ash and Garrus must think I'm a complete nut-case," she said quietly, resting her head against his shoulder.

"Well, the whole Council think you're a nut-case because of these Reaper visions you're having, so I guess they're just par for the course."

"Thank you, Kaidan. For listening." She gave him a squeeze and then stepped out of his arms. "For not condemning me for Akuze."

"Do I take it to mean that you're no longer suffering delusions of grandeur and paranoia, and that you don't really believe that I'm working for some shadowy higher-power whose ultimate purpose is to turn you into a hero for civilians to believe in?"

She had the grace to look incredibly embarrassed at that. "I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me."

"I do. You were under enormous shock and stress. I saw Chakwas pumping you with something to wake you up, just before she kicked me out of the medical bay, and then you drank a lot. You seem better now, though. How do you feel?"

She took a moment to consider the question, assessing her own body. It was in perfect health, apart from the lingering drugs and alcohol in her system. Turning her focus to her mind, she knew that she still had issues, and that it would probably be a long time before she could fully come to terms with Akuze… and even longer before she could stand to look at a thresher without succumbing to the thousand-yard stare. But for now, she could manage. She was not alone. Kaidan would always be around, to listen to her and help her to see sense. Ever the skeptic, he would keep her grounded, anchor her to the real world.

"I feel a lot better," she admitted. "Thank you for being here. For now, I think I'll get some sleep. Will you tell Pressly to put us on course for the Citadel? I'd like to make my report about Edolus to Admiral Kahoku in the morning… and I think I also owe a couple of people an apology."


	16. Requiem

Deus Ex Machina

_16. Requiem_

It was midday on Eden Prime. The sun was high in the sky, shining down its warm, life-giving rays on the planet. Standing at the place where she and her team had been dropped off, Ellie looked around, surveying the area with her keen gaze. It was exactly as she remembered it… but there were subtle differences. The gas-bags were gone, no longer littering the air as they floated harmlessly above the ground. There were no birds singing in trees, either, and no beetles scurrying across the ground. The light from the sun was different… still light, but almost… hazy. As if somebody had put it through a filter designed to give a softer focus.

She was different, too. Looking down, she found herself not in her combat armour, but in civvie clothes; black trousers, comfortable black calf-high walking boots, and a grey and white t-shirt with her sleeves rolled up. It felt strange to be dressed this way. Normally, when not in her combat gear, she wore her Alliance uniform, just like any other soldier. And even when she was off-duty, or back on Earth during shore leave, she opted for her uniform. To her, being an N7 marine was not a job, not a uniform that she could take off and hang up at the end of the day; it was her life. A fundamental part of who she was, and without her uniform to identify her, she felt… lost. Incomplete. Like somebody just pretending to be less than the sum of their parts.

"Hey commander."

Turning, she found herself looking at the smiling face of Jenkins. Like her, he was in his civvies, but there was no sign of the wound which had been inflicted by the geth. No sign of injury. Standing a few paces away from her, he too looked different. Softer around the edges, somehow. Less flawed. She almost thought she could sense peace and contentment from him. But that would have been crazy. Even more crazy than the fact that he was here at all.

"I figured I'd find you here," Jenkins continued. "Almost didn't recognise you out of uniform."

"Jenkins?" she asked, taking a step forward, to examine the man more closely. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, I live here? I told you that."

Reaching out, she touched his shoulder with her fingers. Despite his slightly hazy outline, he was solid. Real. Not a ghost and definitely not a figment of her imagination.

"But… you died," she pointed out.

"Yeah." His looked incredibly embarrassed, and ran a hand through his short hair. "Sorry about that. Can't believe it myself. I didn't even get a single shot off."

"I'm sorry," she said, turning away from him to survey the green, rolling hills around her. "I should have told you to be more careful. This place… I suppose it gave me a false sense of security. I should have done more to save you."

"Come on, commander, we both know it's not your fault. It's not like I haven't been through the same combat training as you. You can't be expected to babysit the men and women under your command. I was careless. I wasn't expecting such an immediate attack. And if anybody was lulled into a false sense of security, it was me. This place is my _home_."

"I'm still sorry."

"I know. And that's what makes you a great commander. You are compassionate. You know the cost of a life. You'll never just throw them away for convenience. But you can't let yourself dwell on every single one. It'll kill you."

She nodded. She could see the wisdom in his words. Although she never wanted to be the kind of person who would ask others to sacrifice their lives without good cause, she knew from first-hand experience that too much guilt could push you down and keep you in darkness.

"Did it hurt? Dying, I mean," she asked.

"Well, it stung like hell for a moment there." He nodded towards the path which led to the dig site. "But when I think of how those guys went, impaled on the teeth of the dragon, suffering and slowly losing their humanity… I sorta think I got off easy. At least I went quick."

"And now?"

"Now I'm home. It's great here… peaceful, calm, idyllic… my folks are here too. It's good so see them again. My mom's cooking her famous lamb casserole for dinner tonight. I can't wait. Oh, hey, congratulations on the whole Spectre thing. I knew you could do it."

"Thanks," she smiled. "So… what happens now?"

"Well, I'm gonna go for dinner, spend a bit of time with my folks." He gestured to the path which led towards the outskirts of the colony. She turned to look ahead down the trail. "You should go to the dig site. He's waiting there for you."

She turned back to Jenkins. "Who-"

There was nobody there. Jenkins was gone.

Ellie looked around, behind every boulder, over the edge of the tall cliffs, even between the trunks of the nearby trees. There was nowhere for Jenkins to have gone; the place was a dead end. And yet he had simply disappeared in the time it had taken for her to turn and glance ahead.

There was no other choice. She had nowhere else to go, and the path to the dig site was the only way out of the dead end. She didn't know _why_ she was back on Eden Prime - in fact, she couldn't even remember being brought back here - but there didn't seem to be any way for her to leave. At least if she went to the dig site she could use the archaeologists' transmitter to contact the Normandy, ask Pressly to come and pick her up. And perhaps the scientists could tell her what she was doing here in the first place.

The path she walked now was familiar, though like everything else here, a little hazy. There were still no gas-bags, none of the loud parrot things… and fortunately, no shuttle-sized dragon-flies. It was almost as if all life here had ceased to be. Except Jenkins, apparently. And herself.

The dig site, when she arrived, came as a surprise. She had been expecting to find it bustling with scientists, but instead it was as deserted as it had been on her mission here. Well, _almost_ as deserted. There was a single dark figure crouching in front of the Prothean beacon, which had apparently been moved back from the space port. He was simply watching the beacon, observing it in silence. Ellie descended the steps roughly hewn in the bedrock, and as she approached the centre of the dig site, the figure stood and turned to look at her.

Nothing about Nihlus had changed. His dark armour was still gleaming, his posture was still one of patient vigilance, and his green eyes were still sharp and frighteningly intelligent. Like Jenkins and the rest of the world, his body was very slightly hazy, but she didn't doubt that if she reached out and touched him, he'd be just as solid as Jenkins.

"Shepard," he said, his echoing voice reverberating around the dig site. "Took you long enough. I was beginning to think I'd moved too fast for you to keep up."

"I'm dreaming," she said. His expression didn't change, except for the mandibles on his face which flared out slightly as he exhaled. She gestured around at the dig site. "This is all a dream."

"Is it?"

"Yes. You're dead. Do you know that?"

"I'd noticed, yes."

"Then what else can this be, other than a dream?"

"You tell me."

She walked around him, examining him from the sides, from behind. There was no sign of his fatal wound, but she hadn't expected there to be. It was as if death had made him whole again. Her unconscious mind, she realised, was probably dreaming him as she had first seen him.

"Do you know how you died?" she asked.

"I didn't see death coming, because my back was turned. But I can take a pretty good guess. If Saren has betrayed us, that explains how the geth found out about this place. And how they were able to get here so quickly."

"Why would Saren betray us, though? Why would he work with the geth? Why does he want to bring back the Reapers?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know because you're dead, or because you're a manifestation of my unconscious mind and you only know what I can know?"

"Death has nothing to do with it." He paced around the dig sit for a moment, glancing at the beacon before turning back to her. "You see things more clearly, when you're dead. Life… life is a sphere of smoked glass that surrounds you, colouring your vision and obscuring your view, hiding things from your sight. Death removes that sphere, allows you to see beyond. As for me being a manifestation of your mind… perhaps I am. But if that's true, your mind has created me for a reason. I don't know why Saren betrayed us because he is standing in darkness, cloaked by shadow that even my vision cannot penetrate."

She sighed. Her sleeping mind, it seemed, was big on rhetoric and allegory. "I wish you were here," she said. "I mean _really_ here."

"I am." His intelligent green eyes were focused on her face as he stepped towards her. Reaching out, he tapped the side of her head, at her temple, with one sharp-clawed finger, his long nail pricking her skin. "I'm here."

"It's not the same," she said quietly.

"Maybe not, but it's what you've got to work with. Now, I can tell you two things about Saren. One is that he is very, very clever."

"Cleverer than you?"

"I wouldn't go that far," he said, with an unamused snort.

"Cleverer than me?"

"Maybe. That has yet to be seen. But he's older than you. More experienced than you. And far more ruthless than you. Do not underestimate him."

"I won't. But does he have any weaknesses? Anything I can exploit?"

"That's the second thing I can tell you. He is proud, and his pride gives him a sense of security. If you can strike at him hard and fast, cause him pain quickly, he'll back off and reassess things. That should give you a breather, time to regroup. He's also an angry individual. He hates humans with a single-minded passion. Find a way to use that against him."

"Thank you, Nihlus." She glanced around the empty dig site, her eyes lingering briefly on the now-whole beacon, which appeared to be active. When she looked back to the turian, she found him watching her closely. "I wish I could have stopped Saren from killing you."

"What's done is done. If you're always looking over your shoulder, you'll never see where you're going."

"I… I need your help," she admitted. "I don't know how to be a Spectre. I don't know how to deal with Saren alone. Will you help me?"

For a moment he was silent, his green eyes piercing within his black face. She got the feeling that she was asking something big of him, that it wasn't an easy decision for him to make. And just when she thought he was going to say no, he surprised her.

"Yes," he said. "I don't leave a job unfinished. And I can see that you're quite clearly unfinished. I will stay here for a while. I will help you. Besides…" he turned back to the beacon, "I would like to contemplate this thing some more. There is no telling what it is doing right now, or how it is affecting you. The more we know about the beacon, the better our chances of using its knowledge to defeat Saren. To defeat the geth. To stop the Reapers from ever returning. Because if they do… spirits preserve us all."

"Thank you."

He nodded, accepting her thanks, and returned to his position in front of the beacon, crouching down before it to look at it once more.

"Um, you don't know how I can leave this place, do you?"

"If this is a dream, like you said, you should just be able to wake up. But can I offer you a piece of advice, Shepard?"

"Sure."

"You should head down to the space port. There's been a lot of activity there recently."

She glanced down at herself, dressed in her civvies. "But I don't even have my gun."

"It's not that kind of activity."

Nihlus' focus returned entirely to the Prothean artefact, and she knew she would get nothing else out of him for now. She had asked for his help, and he had given it. She would have to prove to him that she was willing to listen to his advice before he would offer her anything else.

Though she had seen no other living things beside herself, Nihlus and Jenkins - and she was extremely dubious about whether she could class them as 'living', seeing as how they were actually very dead - she was still wary as she made her way along the path. This was where she had encountered heavy geth resistance. This was where she had first seen the human husks, half-synthetic abominations which rushed at their victims to terrify and attack them. If this whole thing _was_ a dream, a conjuration of her mind, it was highly probable that something large and aggressive would show up soon. And it probably wouldn't be Wrex.

Nevertheless, she encountered not another living soul until she reached the space port. Despite Nihlus' claims that it had seen a lot of activity, it was now empty, devoid of activity. There were no dock-workers, no locals, no visitors… it was as silent here as it had been at the dig site and the drop-point. As Ellie approached the port, she noticed several shuttles docked in the bays. Most were civilian and merchant shuttles, but one of them had the military designation of its mother ship painted on its side. It was a designation that Ellie did not recognise, and she approached it for a closer look.

"Commander Shepard! Good to see you again," said an old but firm voice behind her. Turning away from the shuttle, she looked at a slightly hazy Admiral Parsons in his full dress uniform, and she saluted without even thinking. He chuckled at the gesture. "No need for that, commander. At ease. I'm not an admiral anymore."

"Yes, sir," she said, letting her posture relax. But she could not stop herself from thinking of him as 'sir'. Respect to her superior officers had been drilled into her too well, and that included former superior officers, too. "Might I ask, sir, what exactly you're doing here?"

He gestured around, as if it was obvious. "I was just in the area and thought I'd stop by to see how you're doing. Don't worry, I won't be staying long, I'm just passing through. I have somewhere else to be."

"Always one more battle waiting around the corner, right sir?"

"That's exactly right, commander. Before I leave, though, I just wanted to say that you were always one of my favourites."

"Really? Me?" It was hard to believe. Parsons had been as tough as old leather held together by titanium nails. He'd never shown favouritism, always treated the soldiers under his command exactly the same regardless of their age, gender, rank, or how long they'd served under him for.

"You always have an opinion and you're not afraid to state it," he explained, a smile gracing his wrinkled face. "I always thought you'd make a good leader, and now you have the chance to prove it. Not just a commander, but captain of an incredible ship, and a Spectre to boot, or so I hear. You've got the brains to take you higher up, the courage to push you forward, and the common sense to keep you grounded. If I'd had a daughter, I would have wanted her to be just like you."

"I… thank you, sir." For once in her life, she was speechless. Nobody had ever said such a nice thing about her. At least, not to her face. Maybe they said things behind her back, but she doubted they were such glowing words. "Your confidence and approval means a lot to me. And I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your retirement party."

He waved a dismissive hand. "No need to apologise, Shepard. You have a lot of important work to do. Humanity is depending on you. The galaxy is depending on you." He gave her shoulder a reassuring pat. "No pressure." Then he glanced behind her, to the waiting military shuttle. "Well, time for me to go. And don't worry about the party… I'll be seeing you again soon, Shepard."

"I'll make a point of stopping by to say hello and reminisce about old times the next time I'm back on Earth," she assured him.

He merely smiled at her and stepped past her, entering the waiting shuttle. As soon as he was onboard it fired its ascent thrusters and began its climb into the atmosphere. Ellie watched it go until it was out of sight. Then, on the other side of the port, she heard a door open, and noticed one of the civilian shuttles with its loading door open. She walked towards it, still cautious, still wishing she had her gun, and looked inside. There was nothing except darkness inside the vehicle, black and impenetrable. Something, it seemed, wanted her to step inside, which automatically made her want to _not_ step inside. But, she realised, she didn't seem to have much choice. There was nobody here, the other shuttles were locked, and there was no other way off Eden Prime… or out of her dream.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward into the darkness.


	17. Messages II

Deus Ex Machina

_17. Messages II_

_*** Incoming extranet message - top priority ***_

* * *

_[Jonas]Hey little sister, we got your email. Mind blowing stuff. Can't believe they gave you your own ship. You could go anywhere and do anything. Literally, anything._

_[Allerton] Please come pick us up for a cruise around the galaxy. A ship like Normandy must be a major babe magnet. Take me to Thessia on it and I'll give you my mortal soul._

_[Miyazaki] For what __**that's **__worth! You'd spend a lifetime trying to clean it._

_[Allerton] Ignore him. I'm pure as the driven snow. BTW, we got Alenko's email too… tells us you're starting up something of an intergalactic zoo. Got yourself a turian and a quarian, and even a krogan? Wrex, is it? He sounds like a major bad-ass. Can you imagine, living for a thousand years with the whole galaxy pissed off at you?_

_[Miyazaki] Quite an accomplishment, when you consider that Allerton struggles to survive from mission to mission._

_[Allerton] Hey, man, that was below the belt._

_[Miyazaki] Probably didn't hurt you much, then._

_[Jonas] We got replacements for you and Alenko… one of the guys just graduated N7, says he did basic with your Williams. He told us she's a bit of a religious nut, but a decent soldier with a cool head. Sounds like she might make a good crewman for you after all. Tell her Alex Costello said Hi._

_[Allerton] Tell us about this asari you have onboard. Is she hot? Single? Looking for the comforting arms of a man? Because I am totally available. You're a Spectre, you could put in a transfer request, get me away from Miyazaki and into the company of a beautiful, lonely asari…_

_[Miyazaki] Wishful thinking, man. Asari creep me out. Think about it, they do any gender of any race. What if the asari you're drooling over today was shacked up with a turian or a krogan or a salarian yesterday?_

_[Allerton] I much prefer to think of the asari I'm drooling over today being shacked up with another asari yesterday. Mmm._

_[Jonas] Heard that you've got Doctor Chakwas onboard, too. I met her once, a couple of years before I joined N7. Amazing woman with a fantastic sense of humour. You couldn't be in better medical hands._

_[Miyazaki] Is it true that Jeff Moreau is your pilot? He's the cousin of an ex of mine… he's an even bigger ass than Allerton._

_[Allerton] That's true, actually._

_[Jonas] We're getting some disturbing chatter over here, Shepard. Something about a Prothean beacon giving you visions of some sort of impending alien attack? That the Council don't believe you? Sounds intense. I hope the political bullshit doesn't stop you from doing what needs to be done. And regardless of what the Council say, we're here if you need us. Give the word and we're at your beck and call._

_[Miyazaki] For all of five minutes. After which time we'll be promptly shot for desertion._

_[Jonas] That won't happen, little sis. You're a Spectre. The Alliance brass will give you anything you ask for. And, should you feel the need to ask for a unit of highly-trained N7 marines, we'll be more than happy to join you._

_[Allerton] Especially if the asari's around. Or multiples thereof._

_[Miyazaki] Oh, news. Did you hear about Parsons?_

_[Allerton] Of course she's heard about Parsons. She's a freaking Spectre, man. She probably heard about it the moment it happened._

_[Miyazaki] Just in case you didn't hear, little sister, they found Parsons cold in his house yesterday. They reckon he'd been there at least 24 hours. The only reason they thought to look for him was 'cos he'd missed out on a medical check-up he was due for._

_[Jonas] It's a fucking shame. Poor guy had no family… the military was his life. What do they expect to happen when someone has to stop living the life they've always known? It's a shock to the system. What did he have left? Years of watering potted plants and listening to passing soldiers telling tales of battle? That would have driven Parsons nuts. He knew it._

_[Miyazaki] Just further evidence that lifers like us need to go out fighting the good fight. When it's time for me to retire, I sure as hell won't be going back to civvie life. I'm gonna hire myself the biggest ship I can getmy hands on and head for batarian space. I'm not going to end up staring down the barrel of my own pistol, like Parsons._

_[Allerton] I heard that it happened after he got his pension statement through and realised how shit it was. That's what pushed him over the edge._

_[Jonas] The funeral's tomorrow. We'll sign something in the book for you. I know you'd want to be there to give the old guy a send-off, but you've gotta save the galaxy and all that. Priorities, right?_

_[Allerton] Give us a shout when you're ready for that blaze of glory. We'll help light up the skies._

_[Jonas] Peace, little sister._

_[Miyazaki] But not too much of it, or you'll get soft._

_- Jonas, Allerton, Miyazaki_

* * *

_**Scanned for viruses - 13:12 - Cleared**_

_The opinions expressed in this email are the sole property of the sender, and do not represent those of the Alliance Military._

_If you were not the intended recipient of this extra-mail, please delete it immediately. Publishing any part of this email to the public domain will result in prosecution by the Alliance Military._

_**End of extranet transmission**_


	18. Politics

Deus Ex Machina

_18. Politics_

Eloise Shepard had problems. First and foremost of her problems was Admiral Kahoku. He had been understandably angry to learn of the fate of his marine unit on Edolus. Nobody in a position of authority liked losing troops. It had nothing to do with implied incompetence, and everything to do with the burden of responsibility. A soldier needed to know that if he was asked to give his life, it was for a worthy cause. A good reason. That his sacrifice would be remembered, even if it was only remembered by a single person. The marines on Edolus had not died for a good reason. They had been lured into a trap, and Ellie did not know why. Kahoku did not know why. She suspected that the Admiral had... suspicions. But what exactly those suspicions were, he had not been willing to divulge. Instead he had taken his leave, to inform the families of his men of their deaths. That particular task was one Ellie was not looking forward to, though she knew it was inevitable. Death was a part of military life, and those who couldn't accept that went crazy trying to avoid it.

Her second problem came in the form of one Doctor Liara T'Soni. Ellie trusted her, sensing that the woman was honest. Again, her special training served her well. But the rest of the crew... they had accepted Tali, because of the way she had exposed Saren. They had accepted Garrus, because he had spent years working for C-Sec. They had accepted Wrex, because when it came right down to it, it was better to have him working with you than against you. But they had not yet accepted Liara. Her species had nothing to do with it. Of the three council races, asari were the least offensive. Partially it was because they were a race comprised entirely of a single gender - a single female gender, as most people saw it. It automatically made the males of other species sit up and notice. But it was also because the asari had been the first to discover the Citadel... and because they had done the least damage, over the years. The salarians had uplifted the krogan and used them to fight the rachni. Then they had invented the genophage, and given it to the turians. The turians in turn had used the genophage on the krogan, essentially issuing them a death sentence, and then later, they had almost incited intergalactic war with humanity during the First Contact War.

The asari had mostly escaped the negativity surrounding the salarians and turians. The reason the crew of the Normandy were slow to trust T'Soni stemmed solely from the fact that she was Matriarch Benezia's daughter, and had yet to prove where her loyalties lay. Ellie had spent some time talking to Liara, during the FTL journey back to the Citadel. At 'only' a hundred and six years old, Liara was a fascinating individual, dedicated to her research into the Protheans with an almost single-minded determination. And she had expressed some... disturbing... views. She said that her fifty years' worth of research had brought her to the conclusion that the Protheans were not the first 'advanced' species in the galaxy. She said that others had come before, that even the Protheans had built their civilisation upon the bones of another. She said that the signs pointed to 'cycles', regular periods of galactic evolution interspersed with events of massive destruction. If this was true, it raised many questions. Who had come before the Protheans? Were they the ones who had created the Reapers? Or had the Reapers been around for far, far longer than even the geth had surmised? Where were the Reapers now? And how was Saren involved?

The ship she had seen on Eden Prime... it was a Reaper. She knew it instinctively. The geth were advanced, but only as advanced as the Council species. Yes, the geth built ships, but even their cruisers could not ascend from the surface of a planet. The ship that had brought the geth to Eden Prime was bigger than any Alliance cruiser. It was bigger than the Destiny Ascension, the Council's Asari-designed flagship. It almost rivalled the Citadel in size, and that in itself was disturbing. If the Protheans had created the Citadel, as the Council races believed, why would the Reapers have allowed it to remain? They had surely wiped out as much about the Protheans as they could... so why had the Citadel been found in perfect condition? Maybe the Protheans had hidden it. But if that was the case, it would have made sense for them to have also hidden a warning inside the Citadel pertaining to the Reapers. Nothing fancy, just a note to be displayed upon activation of a console; "Welcome to our Citadel. Oh, and by the way, we were wiped out by a race of violent sentient machines called Reapers. You should try to avoid them." Sometimes it felt like she was the only person in the galaxy thinking logically.

Her most immediate problem, however, was her own people. Upon arriving back at the Citadel, she had been subjected to a surprise inspection by Rear Admiral Mikhailovich, commander of the 63rd Scout Flotilla of the Fifth Fleet. She had never even met the man before, and yet he had considered it his place to turn up for an unannounced spot-check to evaluate the Normandy and her crew. He had forced her to wait outside, in the docking bay, whilst he went about his inspection. When he had returned, he had not been pleased. The Normandy was a waste of money, he said. The credits invested in her drive-core and stealth technology could have been used to produce another cruiser, and 12,000 fighters. Her design and lay-out was incomprehensible to him, and not even Ellie's report of the benefits of the rear-top command view could change his mind about that. But most of all, he was displeased about how many aliens there were aboard the ship. He barely even mentioned Tali; maybe he didn't know about the quarian, or maybe he didn't consider her important enough to worry about. He showed a small measure of concern about Wrex, but since krogan had a reputation for slow-thinking and being interested only in fighting for credits, he had skipped over Wrex's presence fairly quickly. Liara and Garrus, however, were another matter. It was almost as if he saw the Council, and the races they represented, as the enemy.

And to top off an already shit day, as soon as she had departed the docking area, she had been put on the spot by a reporter named Kalisah Al-Jilani, who proceeded to ask awkward, sensitive, and quite frankly, improper questions about Ellie's promotion to Spectre, the mission involving Saren, and the Normandy's creation. Knowing that shooting civilians - especially on camera - was generally frowned upon by her superiors, she had gritted her teeth and answered the questions as evasively as possible, knowing full well that the smarmy news reporter was going to edit the interview to her own benefit. Still, Ellie had one or two aces up her sleeve. She had made an ally of another reporter, a woman named Emily Wong, and if push came to shove she knew she could twist Emily's arm and ask her to report something more positive.

"Commander? You still with me?"

Ellie blinked, and the Normandy's Tantalus drive-core swam back into view. Beside her, Engineer Adams was treating her to a concerned look.

"Sorry, Adams, I was just thinking about something."

"Still worried about what Mikhailovich said?" he asked, standing beside her to look at the engine core.

"A little," she admitted. "He could make things awkward for us, with the Alliance brass. If they take Normandy away from me..."

"They won't. They need you, and they need the ship, and they need you on the ship. Mikhailovich was just pissed because after her shakedown cruise, Normandy was to be assigned to the 63rd. He's been deprived of a top-of-the-line prototype, and it irks him."

She sighed. Why couldn't people see that she was looking out for humanity's best interests? That just because she was working for the Council as a Spectre, did not mean that they were her only priority? Admiral Kahoku understood it. Captain Anderson understood it. It was just a shame Mikhailovich did not share their understanding.

"The Admiral was concerned about many things," she admitted. "The cost of the Normandy, her usefulness... but what's done is done. Those things can't be changed. The Normandy's here, and her usefulness will be proven in time. One thing he _could_ influence, however, is the crew. He didn't seem happy with the non-humans aboard. And when I spoke to Navigator Pressly earlier, he expressed similar concerns. As have one or two others. Do you think I made a mistake in asking non-humans to come along?"

"Between you and me? I wish my engineers had even half the intelligence as Tali," he smiled. "Her aptitude for engines is, quite frankly, amazing. She's always down here, poking around, asking questions."

"Do you want me to ask her to stop disturbing you?"

"Not at all. It's great to have somebody to talk tech with. Speaking of which..." He gestured to the datapad in his hands.

"Sorry, Adams. I guess I zoned out somewhere around your evaluation of the new drive-core. Please, continue."

"Right. Well, as you already know, the drive-core is twice the size of a normal drive-core, giving us the ability to-"

"Commander?" Joker's voice came from over the comm. "Sorry to disturb you, commander, but I have Admiral Hackett of the Fifth Fleet on the comm for you."

"Patch it through to engineering, please," she replied.

There was a few seconds of static, and then a new voice spoke.

"Commander Shepard, it's good to speak to you," said Hackett's disembodied voice.

"What can I do for you, Admiral?" she asked.

"I heard that you're en route to Noveria."

"That's right."

"I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to put your plans aside for a day or two. We have a... situation."

She glanced at Adams, and saw his expression as concerned as her own. "What sort of sitution?"

"At the start of the First Contact War with the turians, we launched a series of intelligence probes. We didn't know who or what we were fighting, and we needed intel. One of the probes that was launched towards turian space recently sent us a 'mission complete' burst."

"So this probe's turned up on Palaven?"

"Not exactly." The Admiral sounded hesitant when he spoke again. "A survey ship passing by the Voyager Cluster reported picking up this signal. They didn't know what it was, so they forwarded the data to Alliance HQ. We intercepted it."

"But the Voyager Cluster is nowhere near turian space," she said. She turned away from the Tantalus drive core, looking up at the comm speaker. She knew that Hackett couldn't see her, but it still felt correct to directly address her commanding officer.

"I know. It's possible that the probe was found by a third party and taken to the Voyager Cluster. Or perhaps it became lost, travelling the mass relays since it was launched some thirty years ago. That the probe may have been discovered is only part of our problem."

"Oh?"

"We didn't want Alliance tech falling into enemy hands. When the probes were launched, each one was equipped with a 20 kilotonne tactical fusion warhead."

"Ah."

"Yes. The warheads were designed to activate in the event of tampering. They're roughly the same size as the bombs dropped on Hiroshima back in the twentieth century. I need you to get to this probe and disarm it before anybody else can discover its location. The Council won't look kindly on us equipping probes with nuclear warheads."

"With all due respect, sir, I don't have anybody equipped to deal with this sort of situation," she said. There was nobody aboard Normandy with a better understand of weapons tech than her. And she wasn't at all convinced that she could disarm a 30 year old nuclear fusion warhead.

"I'm sorry to have put you in this situation, commander, but you're the closest ship, and the only one who can get into and out of the Voyager Cluster without raising suspicions."

"I understand," she said. "I'll see what I can do. Normandy out."

"Commander," said Adams, once she had terminated the comm line, "might I make a suggestion?"

"Please do. I want to hear everything that my senior officers... and my whole crew... have to say."

"I know you think you don't have anybody who can deal with this problem, but I think you should take Tali'Zorah. She's learnt how our tech works really quickly... it seems almost intuitive for her. I think she can help you."

"Alright, I'll let her help. If she wants to, of course. I won't force anybody to face a tactical fusion warhead against their will."

"I know she'll be a great help," Adams assured her.

"Very well. If you see her before I do, please tell her to prepare for a planet-side mission and meet me in the cargo bay. Meanwhile, I'll be in the cockpit."

o - o - o - o -

As she walked down the length of the CIC, Ellie glanced at her crew at their stations. They were good. Very good. The best that the Alliance had to offer, and each one of them hand-picked by Captain Anderson before he'd stepped down. Everybody knew their place, and they worked together well. From the engineers right down to the cook, she knew she could count on every one of them. Then she stepped into the cockpit.

"Hey commander," said Joker, sensing her approach from behind. He didn't turn around; his hands were too busy flying over various consoles, keeping the ship on her path through space. "I heard we're off to take on some nukes. Saren oughta be a piece of cake after this, right?"

"Yeah... chocolate cake. With whipped cream," she said wryly. "How's the ship doing?"

"She runs like a dream, commander." Joker's voice became almost dream-like as he continued. "Handling's different than what you'd expect, mostly because of the oversized drive core we got back there. But in my hands... I can make her dance."

She smiled. Joker, it seemed, felt the same way about ships as she did about land-based vehicles. And she suspected that for him, Normandy was 'the one'. Even if the Alliance rolled out a hundred more of the SR1's, all with massive improvements, Joker would never never leave his ship. She was the first of her kind, and therefore unique.

"What's our ETA to Voyager?" she asked.

"Fifteen minutes, commander. Pressly's gonna start scanning systems as soon as we drop out of FTL. We'll have you planet-side within an hour."

"I'll go prep the Mako, then."

"Good luck, commander. Hope you don't end up like the Japanese."

She left the cockpit and returned to the CIC. The crewmen and women around her ignored her; not out of disrespect, but because they had a job to do, and they knew as well as she did that you couldn't get your job done if you spent all your time saluting every time a senior officer walked past. Eager to get the mission started, she stepped into the elevator, only to find Garrus stepping into it right behind her, having seemingly appeared from the medical bay.

"Everything alright?" she asked him.

"Yeah, Doctor Chakwas just wanted a sample of my tissue," he said, as the elevator door swished closed behind him. "Don't know why... didn't ask. Medical stuff doesn't really interest me."

Recalling what Chakwas had told her earlier, about using asari genetics to build bridges between the DNA of other species, Ellie smiled. She was willing to bet that now Chakwas had an asari, a turian and a ship full of humans to work with, whatever research she was doing would soon start to yield results.

"Are you settling in alright?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Well enough. Adjusting to ship life is... interesting. I haven't served on a ship for some years. I'd forgotten how the food can be. But that's not why I hijacked your elevator. There's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it?"

"I heard about the probe you're going to recover."

She raised a questioning eyebrow. "How did you learn about that?"

"People talk," he said dismissively. "I listen. And I'd like to come with you."

"You have an interest in old Alliance tech?"

"I have an interest in old Alliance tech when it's equipped with nuclear fusion warheads and aimed at my peoples' space," he said, fixing her gaze with his steely yellow eyes.

"Ah. I see your point. You don't trust me to disarm it?"

"I trust you. It's the rest of the galaxy I don't trust. I want to make sure that the weapon doesn't fall into the wrong hands. And in the Terminus Systems, there are a _lot_ of wrong hands."

Opting for honesty, she turned to face him. "There's a chance I might not be able to disarm the nuke," she admitted. "If it explodes... on the Normandy, you'll be fine. If you come with us to the planet, however..."

"I understand the risks," he assured her. "And I still want to help."

"Alright. Get prepared, we'll be touching down within the hour."

"Thank you."

The elevator stopped and they stepped out into the cargo hold, Garrus joining Tali by the lockers. Before she could even _think_ about giving her crew a rousing speech, however, Kaidan stepped out from behind the Mako, and he did not look pleased.

"Tactical fusion warhead?" he demanded.

"20 kilotonne tactical fusion warhead," she amended.

"And the reason that you haven't asked me to come and help you disarm it is..?"

Taking his arm, she lead him aside, behind the Mako, and lowered her voice. "Because if something goes wrong down there, I need somebody I can trust to keep going, to keep fighting. Not just Saren, but the Reapers. They're the true threat here."

"Yes, they are. Which is why I can't understand why you're risking your life on some salvage operation." He took her shoulders in his hands, squeezing them gently. "The galaxy needs you, Ellie. You're the only one who's been given information by a prothean beacon. If that information is lost..."

"It won't be," she insisted. "I can do this. I _have_ to. Admiral Hackett himself asked me to see to it. You can't say 'no' to an Admiral."

He gave an irritated sigh of frustration. "Still have to be the one to save people yourself, don't you? You just can't let somebody else do it, can you?" She didn't reply. He knew her too well. He knew that she hated being asked to stay behind and let others take the risks. When she wanted a job done, she couldn't help but do it herself. "You know, Shepard, for someone who's so open and trusting, you have a hell of a lot of trust issues."

"I know. And I'm working on it. Hold Doctor Kay responsible, if you like. But right now I've got to prep for the mission." She smiled and gave him a friendly punch on the arm. "Tell you what, if there's any threshers down there, you can come in guns blazing to save me, alright?"

"That's not funny. You could have died."

"I know," she said, and felt the smile evaporate from her face. "Inappropriate humour is how I deal with things I can't deal with. Something I have in common with Joker, I guess. Now, wish me luck."

"Good luck, Ellie. And try to bring the mako back in one piece, this time."

Giving him another smile, she turned and made her way to her locker then began suiting up. This time, she knew, the Mako would come back in one piece, or not at all.

o - o - o - o - o

Ellie glanced down at the readout on the mako's sensor console. The signal being sent from the probe was still strong, which was a little worrying. It was only supposed to have sent a single 'mission complete' burst when it had reached its target… it wasn't supposed to keep transmitting. It was possible that the probe was damaged or malfunctioning, and there were any number of possibilities she could think of to explain such behaviour. Programming error, software degradation, physical damage caused by impact with an extra-planetary object, or head and radiation damage as a result of a poor atmospheric entry. But none of the 'natural' explanations could explain what she was seeing visually. Out of the mako's window, several hundred metres in front of her, was a mine entry point. And the signal was coming from inside it.

"This is very suspicious," said Tali. The young quarian was sitting at the Mako's mass effect cannon position, whilst Garrus took the main gun station.

"I agree," he said. "Probes don't just get up and walk down mine shafts all by themselves. Somebody's put it there."

"Then they might not know how much danger they're in," Ellie replied. "Tampering with it, or trying to access the data without the proper access codes, could trigger the nuke. We need to disarm it before somebody hurts themselves."

"And once it's disarmed?" he asked. "What are you going to do with it then?"

"Take it back with us, I suppose. Figure out where it's been, why it's so far off course, and whether it's caused any trouble along the way."

"I think you should destroy it."

"Why?" She couldn't turn around in her seat to address him because she had to keep an eye on the navigation screen, but she did turn her head slightly so she could watch him from the corner of her eye. In many ways he reminded her of Nihlus; he had the same physique, the same physical features, the same spark of intelligence in his eyes, though it wasn't as well-defined and sharp with Garrus as it had been with Nihlus. There the similarities ended. Where Nihlus' skin had been dark, the rigid outer plating of his face black with extensive white tattoos, Garrus' skin was tan coloured, his beige face marked with a blue tattoo signifying his homeworld as Palaven.

"The Hierarchy won't be pleased if they learn of your peoples' intentions to spy on us following the Relay 314 Incident. And they'd be even less pleased to learn that a probe armed with a tactical nuclear warhead which may have gathered intelligence about our space is being returned to the Alliance military."

"But we're not enemies anymore," she assured him. "Our people are at peace. We've even worked together to build the Normandy. You and I are working together now. There's no threat in this probe."

"_I_ know that," he replied smoothly. "And I trust you. But not all of my people think as I do, and there are always people who will make a fuss merely for the sake of hearing themselves speak. For example, what do you think your Ambassador Udina would do if _he_ learnt about a turian probe armed with a warhead launched into Alliance space, which may have gathered data about human colonies?"

"Oh, he'd love that," she said drily. "He'd be up in front of the Council in a heartbeat, spouting nonsense in front of news reporters, telling everybody how right he'd been that turians can't be trusted."

"Exactly. You've seen our Councillor. You've witnessed first-hand how far his head extends up his own ass. No matter how careful you are with recovering that probe, as long as it exists, there's a chance its existence can be discovered."

"Would _you_ tell the Hierarchy about it?" she asked.

"No. I want to see what you'll do. Like you said before, this is _your_ mission, Shepard. I'm just along for the ride."

"Then there's something else you should know," she said, deciding complete honesty would serve her best. "This wasn't the only probe we launched. There were others. If we can figure out how this one ended up off course, we might be able to find the others too. If I destroy it… I may destroy all chance we ever have of finding them."

He exhaled sharply, the mandibles on either side of his mouth flaring briefly. "That complicates things," he said.

"Your people don't do anything by half measure, do they, Shepard?" Tali asked.

She gave the young woman a grim smile. "Something we have in common with the turians." Then, as the vehicle approached the entrance to the mine, she slowed and stopped it, and unbuckled the straps around her chest which would hold her in place if - heaven forbid - the mako flipped. "Time for EVA," she said. "Agebinium's atmosphere is almost entirely carbon dioxide and krypton, so I hope you both brought your breather helmets."

Pulling on her own helmet she saw Garrus follow suit, whilst Tali clipped a small portable oxygen tank onto her back, inserting the airtight tube into one of the seals on her environmental protection suit. Once they were ready she tapped the comm button on her helmet as Tali opened the Mako's hatch to depressurise the vehicle.

"Normandy, this is Shepard, we have reached an entrance to a mine shaft, inside which we expect to find the intel probe. Be advised that we may lose contact if we get too deep underground."

"Acknowledged, Normandy," said Pressly. "We'll be standing by for immediate evac should things go wrong."

"Negative," she replied, and began climbing the ladder out of the mako. Standing atop the vehicle beside her two companions, she looked at the large mining door. "I want the Normandy a safe distance away from the planet. If things go wrong we won't even get time to call for aid, much less evacuate. Normandy is to remain outside of the planet's atmosphere. And if you happen to see a big mushroom cloud from orbit… well, be sure to tell folks back home that we went out with a bang."

"Inspiring speech, Shepard," said Garrus.

"I for one am looking forward to the challenge of disarming a tactical nuclear warhead before it can vaporise us all," said Tali. And Ellie suspected she was being entirely sincere.

"Roger that, Commander," said Pressly. "We'll establish a high orbit, out of range of potential EMP complications. Good luck."

When the comm line went dead, Ellie jumped down from the Mako and landed heavily on the ground. As Tali and Garrus joined her, she drew her pistol and set the thermal sink to active. The power light came on, the status bar on the side indicating how much power was being drawn by the weapon. Because the gun hadn't been fired recently, it was all in the green.

"Expecting trouble?" Garrus asked, with a glance for her pistol.

She shrugged. "Maybe. But I tend to find that when I'm not expecting trouble, trouble's usually expecting me."

"A wise philosophy, Commander Shepard," said Tali. Her face behind her mask was indiscernible, but her voice radiated approval. "When a quarian is preparing for their pilgrimage, they are given important lessons on how to survive outside of the Migrant Fleet. First and foremost of those lessons is the requirement to be prepared for any situation, and adapt accordingly. But, ah, I suppose you don't really want to hear about my people right now."

"I'd love to hear about them when we're back on the Normandy," she assured the young woman. "For the moment, we should concentrate on finding the probe. Now, since Agebinium has no native live, whoever took the probe into the mine most likely has a ship nearby. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Eyes peeled, Shepard?" Tali asked, confusion in her voice.

"It's a human saying. It means keep a look out."

"Right."

She took point as they advanced, with Garrus and Tali flanking her. Continually scanning her environment with her eyes, she saw no sign that anybody else had recently come this way, but since the ground was nothing but hard rock, allowing no footprints to be left, that was to be expected. Nor were there any vehicle tracks, no discarded supplies, no mining equipment... it was as if the whole place had been cleaned to leave no trace, and it only increased her suspicion.

When she reached the foot of the mine she began to climb up the metal stairs. They creaked slightly with every step she took, but her omni-tool scanner showed that they were structurally sound, with no chance of breaking under her weight. Which was a relief, because she'd already had more than enough as far as falling masonry was concerned. Tali follwed her up, followed by Garrus, and once they were all in position Ellie tapped the door entry button. It groaned ominously before opening, revealing a tunnel down into the hillside.

Further evidence that somebody had recently been here became obvious as they crept down the shaft. The mine's lighting system was still active, giving off plenty of light by which to see. Whoever was down here must have a generator, or have fixed the one left behind by whoever had last mined on the planet. Not that she wasn't grateful; disarming a nuclear warhead would be much easier in full light than by torch light.

The shaft terminated in another door, which when she opened it, proved to be a large storage area, filled with empty crates, boxes and portable lights. It was impossible to see how long or wide it was, and there was no discernible sign of egress.

"Spread out," she told her companions. "Look around. If you see anything that looks like our probe, don't touch it. Call me."

As Tali and Garrus began to move away, she approached one of the crates and wiped away some of the dust covering the lid. Beneath the layer of dirt she read the words 'Eldfell-Ashland Energy'. So. Humans had been here before, though clearly their operations had ended some time ago. Had they possibly left people behind? Were there miners still trapped here? Were they the ones who had unknowingly brought a nuclear fusion device into the mine?

"Commander Shepard?" came Tali's voice over the comm. "I've found something. It's another door. Should I open it?"

"No, I want to check it out first. Point your gun's flashlight at the roof of the cave and flash it a few times, so I can find you."

Looking up, she saw a beam of light flashing on the rock ceiling. It took a couple of minutes for her to negotiate the maze of boxes, and as she climbed over a pile of crates, her mind flagged up that this would be an excellent place for an ambush. An entire armed unit could be hiding in this cave, using crates as cover, and she would never know until it was too late.

When she reached Tali, she found the quarian and Garrus waiting for her. Holstering her gun, she activated her omni-tool and began scanning the door for any signs of an electronic trip-wire. She herself excelled at creating them, and she wasn't about to be undone by one. Such rookie mistakes were beneath her. But, it seemed, whoever had brought the probe into the mine wasn't interested in trapping the door; it was clean. She pressed the entry button and the round doorway slid open without a sound.

"It's been oiled," Garrus said. "Recently."

"We knew from the start that we wouldn't be alone here," she replied. "Lower your weapons, but be prepared to use them."

When both of her companions complied, she stepped through the door and began another descent down a long, circular tunnel. As above, the lights were still functioning, though one of two of them were flickering.

"This is creepy," Garrus said. Ellie could just about hear his breathing over the comm, and she was pleased to hear it steady and rhythmical. "I keep expecting somebody to jump out and surprise us."

"You'd prefer it if we were in combat with hostile forces?" Tali asked. Unlike Garrus, her breathing was rapid and shallow, but she was otherwise managing her fear well, for such a young, inexperienced woman.

"Yeah. At least in a fight, you know where you stand. All this waiting... you can feel the tension in the air, pressing down on you."

"That might have something to do with the fact that we're under millions of tons of rock," Ellie pointed out.

Tali groaned. "I've never been under a mountain before. In the Migrant Fleet, you mostly have to worry about hull breaches, not whole mountains falling down on you."

"Don't worry, the mountain won't fall down. The mining here doesn't seem to be extensive. It's probably very stable. Do you regret coming?"

"No." Tali took a deep breath, standing a little straighter. "You'll need my help. And besides, this is what the pilgrimage is all about. Experiencing new things. Surviving them. And then going back and telling people about it."

"Look, another door," said Garrus, pointing ahead with his assault rifle.

"Let me take a look," Ellie said, stepping forward and activating her omni-tool once more.

"You take paranoia to a whole new level, Shepard," he said.

"What you call paranoia," she said absently, reading her omni-tool display, "I call caution. A favourite trick of mine used to be to put a trip on a door, which would then activate a nearby automated weapon."

"Why would you do such a thing?" Tali asked, sounding horrified.

"I had a neglected childhood."

"And you... killed people... in this way?"

"Yeah." She deactivated the omni-tool and turned to face the quarian. All that was visible of Tali through her dark purple mask was her eyes, which almost seemed to luminesce. "I told myself it wasn't really killing. I wasn't the one pulling the trigger, after all. The people who died had merely committed suicide by walking through the door. It's amazing what you'll tell yourself, when you're trying to justify your actions."

"I... see."

"Don't worry, I don't do that sort of thing anymore. But that doesn't mean other people don't do it." She turned and activated the door entry switch, waiting for the door to open fully before poking her head into this new room. Again, it was a chamber hewn out of the rock itself, and illuminated by ancient lights. But this chamber held no crates; instead, lying innocently on a table, was the intelligence probe. Taking a deep breath, she stepped towards it, followed by Tali and Garrus. The door slid closed behind them, and an electrical hum began to permeate the air.

"Ah, Commander Shepard." The voice was male, and heavily distorted by interference. For a moment there was no sign of its source, but then something happened; a holographic image appeared, courtesy of a small projector set into the floor. Unfortunately, the image was subject to the same interference as the audio, and she couldn't make out the form.

"And you are?" she asked, stepping towards the hologram.

"Elanos Haliat."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"I was once the leader of the largest pirate group operating out of the Terminus systems."

"Was?" She walked around the hologram, examining it from all angles.

"That changed," he growled angrily, "when your kind arrived."

"My heart bleeds. What do you want, Haliat?"

"Revenge, of course. You see, I was the one who planned and carried out the attack on your colony on Elysium, years ago. The attack that your people refer to as 'The Skyllian Blitz'. When our attack failed, the others blamed _me_. I was forced out of the Terminus Systems, stripped of my resources. Since that moment, I've spent every waking hour planning my revenge. And now I have it."

"You're going to talk me to death?"

"Not quite."

She saw the hologram move, as if it was activating an omni-tool, and then there was the sound of a loud explosion. The ground, and the cave around her, began to shake. Lights blew out, a crack opened up and began allowing water into the chamber, and as Ellie was sent sprawling, she cast a desperate look at the probe; by some small miracle it was still on the table. There was no telling what would happen if it fell from a height.

When at last the shaking stopped she pushed herself to her feet, glad that her helmet protected her from the cloud of thick dust. Behind her, Garrus was helping Tali up, and they were both checking over their weapons which had been dropped in the chaos of the earthquake.

"What did you just do, Haliat?" she demanded, whirling back around to the hologram.

"Sealed you in the cave system. I'll have the prestige of being the one to kill humanity's first Spectre. Revenge, and retribution. Your death will get me back into the Terminus Systems."

She tapped the comm button of her helmet. "Shepard to Normandy, do you copy?"

"I wouldn't waste your breath, commander," the hologram purred. "They can't hear you."

"Damn it. When I get out of here, Haliat-"

"Oh, you won't. Goodbye, Commander Shepard. And do enjoy your nuclear bomb."

The hologram disappeared, plunging the cave into near-darkness. Ellie drew her pistol and actived its side-torch, and Garrus did the same for his assault rifle. Tali'Zorah, meanwhile, was approaching the bomb.

"Ahh... Shepard?" the young woman said. "Was it flashing like this before?"

Biting back the swear-word which wanted to escape her lips, she hurried to Tali's side, and saw that the bomb was indeed flashing. Specifically, it was flashing numbers; a count-down. She put her pistol on the table and hurriedly activated her omni-tool. "That bastard Haliat has activated the bomb's count-down," she told the others. "There are three activation hard points we need to disarm. Tali, you take the one on the right. Quickly."

Her fingers flew over her own omni-tool as Tali'Zorah took up position at the furthest point and began running programs to access the probe's software.

"How long has he given us?" Garrus asked.

"A minute."

"A minute! Can you-"

"Yes, a minute is plenty of time in tech terms," she said, not taking her eyes from her omni-tool display. "Please stop talking."

"I think... I think I've got it," said Tali, at the same time as Ellie's omni-tool cracked the code.

"Good. Help me with the last hard-point," she said, turning to the central activation point. "Haliat's reprogrammed them and given them all different codes. Twenty-seconds left."

Together, she and Tali ran countless programs, and as her fingers flew over her O-T display, she completely ignored the countdown. It was irrelevant. She would find the code before the time ran out, or she would not. Knowing how long she had left changed nothing. It was an indication of how well she had been trained that she was able to keep working, able to focus her mind entirely on the task. Her body, on the other hand, knew exactly how screwed it was if that bomb went off. She felt adrenaline coursing through her veins, her heart-rate and breathing increase, and a trickle of sweat tracked down her forehead, dropping off the end of her nose.

"I've got it!" Tali said, and the bomb's countdown froze at three seconds, then went dark.

"Well done, Tali," she said, patting the young woman on the shoulder. Aware that her hands were shaking, she quickly picked up her gun and holstered it.

"Keelah se'lai. I hope I never have to do that again."

"Agreed. Now let's get out of here and contact the Normandy. With any luck, Elanos Haliat is still in the area, and we can capture him and hand him over to whatever authorities can charge him."

"_You_ could charge him," Garrus pointed out. "You're a Spectre. They can do that."

"Really? Huh. Guess I should have asked the Council for the hand-book before leaving the Citadel. Regardless, we still need to get back to the mako."

She led the way back up the tunnel, towards the central mining chamber, but was met with a scene of destruction when she stepped out into it. The explosion had caused a cave-in, blocking off the route they had used to come in. Most of the lights were now inactive, with only a few of the portable ones still working. Clearly the explosion had taken out whatever power-grid had been running this place. Which probably meant that the door access controls would likely be inoperable.

"Shit," she said, and lifted up her torch light to better survey the carnage. "Have a look around for another way out," she told the others. "Or a way through this mess." As they all spread out once more, another thought crossed her mind. "Garrus, do you know anything about this 'Elanos Haliat' guy?"

"No," he replied. "Why should I?"

"Haliat is a turian name, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but it's a very common turian name, and I've been working out of the Citadel for years. I could tell you all about Fist, or any number of Citadel unmentionables, but I couldn't tell you a thing about the majority of Terminus Systems criminals. Besides, the Skyllian Blitz? That was a few years ago. I was still undergoing military training, then. Wasn't even on the Citadel. Maybe when we get back to the Normandy I can link-up with the turian database on Palaven and see if they've anything on Elanos Haliat."

"Thanks. That would be a big help."

"Shepard? I think I've found something," said Tali, her voice sounding excited through the helmet's speakers. "It looks like a-"

She did not get time to finish her sentence. The ground began to shake again, and rocks began to fall from the roof of the cave. A large boulder landed just a foot away from Ellie, and smaller bits of rock debris dropped onto her body, pinging off her armour. Instinctively she used her omni-tool to activate her armour's shields, and made a dive for the closest solid rock wall.

"It's an aftershock!" she shouted, trying to make herself heard over the din of collapsing cave. "Activate your shields and get to somewhere stable!"

Fighting for survival, she had no time to be terrified. Thoughts of being buried alive were dismissed form her mind as soon as they happened. She had survived Akuze, N7 training, Eden Prime, and Doctor Kay's counselling sessions. She pressed herself against the solid wall, instinctively trying to make herself as small as possible. She _would_ survive this. She would not be defeated by geology!

The aftershock subsided, with only minor residual trembling. When she realised it was dark, she opened her eyes, which wasn't much better. Pointing her gun, and the flashlight attached to it, up into the air revealed a thick cloud of grey dust, and some minor dust-falls still happening from the ceiling. God, she was lucky to be alive! She tapped her comm button, and hoped the others had been as lucky as her.

"This is Shepard," she said, and had to fight back a laugh at the stupidity of her own statement. Of course she was Shepard. Who else would be talking to them over the comm? But old military habits died hard. As hard as their owners, it seemed. "Are you both okay?"

There was a moment of silence, of static, in which her heart decided to stop beating. Or at least, that's how it felt. She recognised the poetic flight of fancy; her heart hadn't _really_ stopped.

"Shepard, good to hear your voice," said Garrus. "The thought that I'd have to go back to the Normandy and tell Pressly that humanity's first Spectre had been bested by a bunch of falling rocks... well, it wasn't a pleasant one."

She laughed. What else could you do, in a situation like this? Then she remembered she had a crewman still unaccounted for.

"Tali? Are you alright?"

Silence.

"I saw her just before the shaking started," Garrus said. "But I lost sight of her in the chaos."

"Alright, stay where you are. I'll come to you, and then we'll search."

She activated the life-signs detector on her omni-tool, and waited for the program to locate somebody other than herself. It was slow going, and when the life-sign appeared, it was as a blip that kept disappearing. Did it indicate Tali, or Garrus?

"Garrus, move a few paces away from your current position," she said. A few seconds later the blip moved too. Relieved, she set off towards it, but it still begged the question; where was Tali?

It was not easy finding a way to Garrus. Her detector placed him at only a couple of dozen metres away from her, but her way was obstructed by large quantities of fallen rock. Her going was made more difficult by the thick grey dust clouds which hung in the air, obscuring her view. Stuck in her EVA suit, completely reliant on it for breathing and protection, her own breaths sounded heavy and strenuous in her ears.

"You okay, Shepard?" he asked, apparently picking up on her heavy breathing.

"Oh yeah," she quipped, as she found her way blocked by a wall of fallen rock. It was infuriating, because according to her detector, he was just on the other side of the wall. "Mad-men trying to kill me for petty revenge by collapsing a mountain on my head? Just another day in the office. Luckily, I don't have an issue with small, confined spaces. If there was a thresher maw here, however, I'd be screwed."

He gave a snort of amusement. "I think I can hear something, on the other side of these rocks. Is that you?"

"Yeah. My O-T says you're just on the other side of this wall. But I can't find a way around it. I think I'm going to have to find somewhere that the rocks are loose enough for me to crawl through."

"And if that causes another cave-in?"

"Well... I suppose we'll all die horribly."

"Hmm. Well, look on the bright side. At least we got that nuclear weapon deactivated. And by 'we', I mean you and Tali'Zorah. I hope when you're recounting this tale to your superiors later, you won't neglect to include the part about the former turian C-sec officer who did his part by standing around looking stylish in the face of adversity."

She chuckled, and began feeling her way along the wall of rock, palpating for any loose material. At last her hands came to a place that was not as solid as the rest, and she started to remove the rock chunks piece by piece. It was painfully slow work, but she couldn't risk the structural integrity of the cave. If there was any chance of them getting out of this alive, she needed to be patient. It was not a virtue she possessed in large amounts.

When she had removed a sizeable portion of material, she poked her head into the hole she had made and was greeted by a blinding beam of light.

"Ah, there you are," said Garrus, lowering his gun. "Sorry about that."

"No problem. Have you seen anything of Tali'Zorah," she asked, peering at him through the hole. His armour was grey, completely coated in dust, and she suspected hers was the same.

He shook his head. "Had a quick look around whilst waiting for you, but no sign. It's been really dusty, though, and I was struggling to see my hand in front of my face. Do you think she's..."

"She's fine," she said. She was _not_ going to lose another crew member. Tali'Zorah's name would not be joining that of Richard Jenkins and Nihlus Kryik. "Her communications interface was probably damaged in the fall. We'll find her."

Garrus' lack of reply was all the confirmation she needed of his own thoughts. He'd already given Tali up as dead. Well, he was about to receive a lesson that his race had already learned once before at Shanxi; humans did not leave their people behind.

"Come on, help me widen this gap," she said, and began working once more at enlarging the hole she had made.

Working together they managed to make the hole large enough for her to crawl through without risking the stability of the wall and the rest of the cave. First she threw her weapon through to the other side, so that it would not hinder her. Then she crouched down and began to worm her way through the the hole they had made in the two-foot of wall. When her arms were through, Garrus took hold of them and pulled her through the gap, and she came to rest inelegantly on the ground. She didn't even bother trying to dust herself off as she stood; there were so many dents and scratches in her armour that it would take professional repair-work to make it good.

"I hear Spectres get a discount from most Citadel weapons and armoury stores," Garrus said, picking up on her thoughts.

"I'll keep that in mind. Let's find Tali before we start planning shopping trips."

She activated her OT-scanner once more, and the holographic display popped up. Two blue dots appeared on the display, side by side. But they were the only life-signs she could detect in the entire area.

"I don't think she made it," Garrus said.

"Something in the rocks around us is interfering with omni-tool scanning," she said, speculating out of desperation and hope. "Until I see her body to prove otherwise, Tali'Zorah is still alive."

"Alright," he relented. Not that he had much choice. "I'll look for as long as you want, Shepard. But just remember, the longer we stay here looking, the further away Elanos Haliat is getting."

"I won't sacrifice an innocent life to punish a criminal."

"Not even a criminal responsible for the Skyllian Blitz?"

"No. Now, where did you last see Tali?"

"Over there." He gestured towards a place where a pile of rocks had come to rest against a stack of mining crates. Ellie scanned the area with her omni-tool, and identified a weaker area, right next to the crates. Carefully, she began removing rock fragments from around the crates, watching how the loose stones fell.

"I think we can tunnel through here," she said. "Help me."

With Garrus' aid she was able to make a small tunnel into the rock, shorter than the one she had created to reach him. Raising her gun, she pointed the torch light through it, and saw another chamber just about visible through the thick cloud of dust.

"We need to make this wider," she said.

It was painstakingly slow work. Sometimes, removing one rock was enough to cause a dozen more to fall down. Luckily, the crates were holding some of the weight of the rock debris, and several larger stones almost formed lintels in one area, which allowed them to remove a substantial amount of rock. When they had finally made a gap wide enough to crawl through, sweat was trickling down Ellie's face despite her suit's attempt to equalize the internal temperature, and her back was aching from hauling stones. But her work was not yet done. Getting down onto her hands and knees, she crawled through the gap, followed by Garrus. Once safely through, they began searching with their lights for any sign of the quarian woman.

"What's that over there?" Garrus asked, pointing to a pile of rocks with his flashlight. Ellie peered at the rock pile, and saw it move slightly. Then, what had only seconds ago appeared to be just another stone, miraculously materialised into a purple mask covered in a layer of grey dust.

She rushed forwards, crouching down beside Tali, taking the young woman by the shoulders and shaking her gently. "Tali'Zorah?" she asked, and the quarian stirred briefly. "Can you hear me?"

"Shepard?" Tali said, her voice pained and croaking over the comm. "Shepard… the mountain fell on me."

"I know." She used her glove to wipe away the dust from Tali's mask, allowing the woman to see out. "Are you hurt?"

"I think I'm stuck." Tali glanced down at her legs, which were covered in rubble up to her thighs. "I can't feel my legs. That's not a good sign, is it?"

"Just lie still. We're going to try to get you out of there." She put her pistol on the ground at an angle that allowed her to see what she was doing, then turned to the turian. "Garrus, give me a hand."

They began to remove rocks from Tali's legs, but every time they took rocks away, more tumbled down in their place. The quarian was trapped under an unstable section, and after three near-avalanches, they were forced to stop.

"I'm sorry, Shepard," Tali said. "I managed to get my shields up, but the ground cracked and I fell, and I was buried before I could do anything about it. I think the shields took most of the weight, but they've stopped working."

"It's okay, we're going to get you out." She refused to give in to despair. Even though the situation seemed hopeless, she could not ask Tali to give up believing. Nor could she give up trying.

"We're going to need more manpower and more equipment to get her out of here, Shepard," Garrus said, eyeing up the pile of rock debris. "We need to make this safe before trying to get her out, otherwise the whole thing could come down on top of us."

"I saw a door," Tali said. "Just before the roof collapsed. That's what I was trying to tell you. I think it had been hidden behind crates, and then exposed during the first quake. Just over there." She managed to point to an area further away from the rock pile that was entirely in darkness.

"Alright. I'll take a look at it, see where it leads. If it goes outside, I'll radio the Normandy for help. Garrus, stay with Tali for now."

She picked up her pistol and went in the direction Tali had indicated. After a few minutes of searching she found the round door, but pressing the entry button did nothing. With the power gone, it was completely dead. Putting down her weapon, she wriggled her fingers into the tiny crack in the centre of the door and pulled with all of her strength. Her muscles complained at the pressure asked of them, and she knew she would be paying for this tomorrow. But in the end, all she achieved for her pain was the doors opening by an inch. Panting for breath, she tapped the comm button on her helmet.

"Garrus, come give me a hand." She waited until he appeared, then gestured to the doors. "Power's dead, we need to force them."

He put his weapon on the ground and gripped one of the doors tightly, as Ellie put her hands around the other.

"On three, pull," she said. "One, two, three." As they each began to pull the doors apart, there was an angry groan of metal. This door, unlike the others, had not been oiled. It was possible Haliat hadn't even known it was here. "It's at times like this I wish the military had augmented my strength more," she gasped, as her muscles complained even more. When at last she could pull no more, she released her grip and studied the door.

"I think that's more than wide enough for you to get through," Garrus said.

"Yeah. I'm going to see where it leads. Hopefully I'll be able to contact the ship."

"And if it leads further down into the mine?"

"I'll think of something else."

She picked up her pistol and stepped into the new tunnel. It was cold, dark, and smelt of damp. She followed it as it led round in a sharp right-hand bend, and then she was climbing upwards at a steep incline. Ahead she saw another door, and when she reached it she found it was already open. There was no light shining through it, though; night had come to Agebinium whilst she and her companions had been trapped inside the mine.

Aware that her flashlight was now a liability, she switched it off and cautiously poked her head slowly out of the mine. Above, stars patterned the sky like bright diamonds cast up there by some unseen hand.

When there was no sign of anybody around the mine entrance, she stepped out and realised she was on the opposite side of the hill to where she had originally entered. Activating her helmet's comm button, she looked up into the sky. "Normandy, this is Shepard, do you copy?" She waited for a moment, listening to the crackling static. "Normandy?"

Giving up on her helmet she switched on her omni-tool, hoping to get a lay of the land. If she was near the mako she could boost her helmet's signal through the vehicle's transmitter and contact the ship. When she activated her O-T, however, all she got was interference.

"Shit."

She stepped back into the mine entranced and made her way down the tunnel and into the main chamber. Garrus, crouched by Tali'Zorah, looked up when she approached. Ellie joined him, and lay her hand on the quarian's shoulder.

"Hey, Tali. How are you doing?"

"Not so well, Shepard," Tali replied. "Did you manage to contact the Normandy?"

"Not yet. Something's jamming our communications. Whatever it is, it's also interfering with my omni-tool, so I can't pinpoint its location. But it's okay, because I'm going to find whatever it is and shut it down. We'll have you out of here in no time, okay?"

"Okay."

"Shepard," said Garrus, standing up and gesturing for her to step away from Tali. When she complied, he lowered his voice. "We have another problem. That chamber, with the bomb in it?" She nodded. "The explosion must have caused a rift in a nearby aquifer. The chamber's filling up. I don't know how long it will take the water to reach this level, but when it does..."

"Then we don't have any time to waste." She turned back to Tali. "I'm going to look for the jamming equipment now. Garrus will stay with you, make sure you're as comfortable as possible."

"No," Tali objected. "He should go with you. With an extra pair of eyes, you'll find the jammer faster, and we'll be out of this place sooner."

"You shouldn't be alone, Tali. You're injured, and you need to stay awake and alert. Somebody needs to watch over you."

"I will watch over me, Shepard. I spent time alone whilst tracking the geth unit whose memory core helped to implicate Saren. I spent time alone whilst travelling to the Citadel. Being alone does not worry me."

"She's got a point," Garrus replied.

"Alright," Ellie relented. "But you're to keep your comm line open at all times, Tali."

"Okay. Good luck."

"Let's go," she said to Garrus, and he nodded.

She led the way into the tunnel, and up onto the planet's surface. He subjected the area to a brief visual sweep, just as she had done, then turned to face on particular direction.

"My visor's picking up some sort of electromagnetic radiation from that direction," he said, gesturing towards a small clump of neighbouring hills.

"Useful gadget," she said appreciatively. "I wonder why it's working, when my omni-tool isn't."

"Most likely Haliat expected Alliance troops to show up, so didn't bother accounting for anybody else. Our good fortune that he's as bad at executing plans as he is at making them."

"Let's go," she said. "Tali, how are you doing?"

"Still here, Shepard," the young woman replied. Her voice definitely sounded less hopeful, more laboured.

"Good. Tell me about your people."

"What would you like to know?"

"Well... your people spend all their lives on their ships, right? What's that like?"

"It's a common misconception that my people spend our entire lives on their ships," Tali explained. "Every quarian undertakes the pilgrimage when they come of age, and usually when we find a planet with resources to sustain us, many of my people go to the planet to mine and gather food. We have to take as much as possible in as short a time as possible, because of the fear that the geth will find us if we spend too long on a planet."

"Where do you store all your food and materials?"

"We have our three Liveships, on which we grow much of the food we need, and also have space on them for storage. But it is true, space is something difficult to come by, in the Flotilla. A ship the size of the Normandy would house a couple of hundred of our people."

"That's… a lot of people," she said, and couldn't help but be impressed. The Normandy's crew was less than fifty, and even that was cramped by Alliance standards. "It must be difficult for your leaders, to organise so many quarians and make your society work with no home-planet."

"We have a home planet. Rannoch. It is simply... beyond our reach. For the moment."

"Of course. Well, what about your family? You got lots of brothers and sisters?"

"No, it is illegal for quarians to have more than one child. We have to maintain zero population growth, otherwise our population would grow too large to support. The only difference is during times when our population becomes too low, in which case the laws are temporarily relaxed and incentives given to families for multiple births."

"That sounds quite harsh."

"No more so than the rest of our lives. We quarians learn to live in conditions that would not be easily tolerable by other species."

Ellie was silent for a moment as she considered everything Tali had told her. At first she had thought that the Flotilla must be a chaotic place, full of large families spanning many ships. Now, it sounded quite restrictive. Quarians were separated by their suits, and by their own social customs. On top of that, something as innocuous as a common cold could be fatal to one of Tali's people.

"So it's just you and your parents?" she asked, picking her way around loose rocks. Garrus was a few paces ahead, listening to the conversation, but silent as he scanned the landscape for signs of the jamming equipment.

"My mother died a few years ago from illness... such things happen all too often in the Fleet. It's just me and my father, now."

"And what's he like?"

"He's a great leader of our people. The head of the Admiralty board." There was pride in Tali's voice as she spoke of her father. "Because of that, my people have great hopes for my pilgrimage. I hope I don't let them down."

"You won't. Anything we find that can help your people reclaim your homeworld, you're welcome to."

"Thank you... captain."

Ellie did not let her guard down as she followed Garrus up the incline of a steep hill. He moved surely, seemed certain of where he was going, but she was still alert, ready for trouble. She had already been caught off guard once by Elanos Haliat, and she prided herself on never making the same mistake twice.

"We should turn our lights off," she said, realising that their small flashlights would easily give away their position to anybody looking in their direction.

"That'll make it much harder to see where we're going."

"I can see by starlight," she replied. "I'll take point. You just point me in the right direction."

They switched their lights off and she overtook him on the hill, her pupils dilating to make use of every available scrap of light. Her augmented vision served her well, and she was able to pick out the best course, avoiding the worst of the loose rocks and scree.

"Any idea of the distance to the jamming signal?" she asked him.

"No. But we're closer. It's likely to be protected, you know."

"I know."

"There's one thing I don't understand."

"What's that?" she asked. "Watch your footing here, the rocks are loose."

He stepped over the loose pile of stones before continuing. "If we're supposed to have died in a nuclear explosion, why the jamming signal?"

"On the off chance that we disarmed the warhead?"

"Maybe," he said thoughtfully. "Hey Tali, it can't have been easy for you, living in the shadow of an Admiral."

When there was no response, Ellie stopped dead. "Tali? Tali'Zorah, can you hear me?"

Garrus stepped up beside her. "Do you want me to go back?"

"No," she replied. It was not an easy decision to make. "We have to assume that we're either out of communications range, or that she's lost consciousness. In either case, the faster we get her out of there, the better off she'll be. I just hope the water hasn't reached her."

"It wasn't filling up that fast."

"Then we keep going."

"Alright. We need to head a little to the left."

They continued their climb, and Ellie concentrated on keeping her legs moving and her breathing steady. She'd never been good at going up hills. Working against gravity was difficult, especially when you were wearing combat gear.

"I never realised life on the Flotilla would be so... restrictive," Garrus mused after a while. "I think a lot of people see quarians as thieves, and a menace to any resource-rich planet. But from the quarian viewpoint, they're just trying to survive."

"I'm sure some of them _are_ thieves," she replied. "All species have their black sheep."

"Their... what?"

"Oh, it's a human expression. We have animals on Earth, called sheep, and they have woolly coats of fur to keep them warm. Most sheep are white, but sometimes you get one with a black coat, and it's said to be something of an undesirable, because it doesn't fit in with the rest of the flock." She glanced at him, walking beside her. All she could see of his face through his breather helmet were his yellow eyes, which scanned the horizon continuously. "Something tells me you can relate to Tali'Zorah, having powerful leader as a father. Is your dad a leader, too?"

"No, but he was a big shot in C-Sec before he moved back to Palaven."

"Is that why you joined C-Sec?"

"Partially," he admitted. "I also thought I could do some good. Help people." He shook his head. "He wasn't pleased when I told him I'd quit C-Sec. And he was even less pleased when he learnt I'd left to join a Spectre."

"Really? Why not?"

"He doesn't like Spectres. He's a real stickler for rules, thinks nobody should be above the law. He'd hate you. Although," he admitted grudgingly, "he'd probably approve of your military dedication to the chain of command and following orders. At any rate, he distrusts Spectres, and anybody else who operates outside of the law. That's why he prevented me from having special training when I was targeted as a potential Spectre candidate."

"You were a Spectre candidate?" She couldn't keep the tone of surprise from her voice. To hear that Garrus had once been considered for the role she now filled was something of a shock.

"One of a thousand potentials selected from the turian military," he said, completely blasé about the whole thing. "It didn't work out, though. My dad's voice carried a lot of weight, and still does."

"Do you feel like you have something to prove to him now?"

"No, not anymore. I think I realised a while ago that whatever I do will never _quite_ be good enough for him. My older brother commands a dreadnought in the turian fleet. Runs it to regulation standard, so of course my dad's proud of him. And my little sister can do no wrong as far as he's concerned. I think all daughters are perfect, in their fathers' eyes. Nothing I do will be good enough for my dad, so now I just do what I think is right."

Families, Ellie realised, were often a source of great consternation. From Wrex's father trying to kill him for a difference of opinion, Ashley's granddad having disgraced the Alliance by surrendering Shanxi to the turians, to Garrus' father being overly judgmental and casting a shadow his son could never quite step out of, it seemed that a lot of the time, a family shaped a person's most basic beliefs and behaviours.

But she had never had a family before. Never grown up knowing the love of a mother and father, the friendship and rivalry of a sibling, the care and attention of aunts, uncles or grandparents. Did that make her less than complete? She had never thought so before, but now she was beginning to wonder. She couldn't think back to a time when a relative had given her compliments or chastised her. No family member had ever shaped or moulded her, because she didn't _have_ any family members, and she hadn't even had a suitable proxy until she'd joined the gang back in London, and then later been assigned to her N7 unit. Did that make her less than the sum of her parts?

When she reached the plateau of the hill, she caught sight of firelight in the near distance, and dropped to the ground. There was a thud beside her as Garrus dropped too, and then she crawled forwards on her elbows to peer over the cliff. Down below, in an exposed area of ground, was a makeshift camp, complete with several small bunkers, supply crates and, to her annoyance, the mako. She had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost hadn't seen the firelight. If even one person below had looked up, they might have seen her.

"They've got my mako!" she hissed angrily.

"So they have." He unclipped the sniper rifle he carried from the back of his armour and peered down the scope. "I count about ten," he said. "Mostly turians… no wait, there's a krogan there, out on the perimeter. And I think a couple of batarians, lurking in one of the shelters."

"Mind if I have a look?" she asked, holding out her hand. He placed the rifle in it, and she took a moment to adjust her grip, positioning the weapon so that it was comfortable. Looking down the scope, she quickly realised Garrus was right. Half a dozen turians were sitting around a campfire, sharing a meal. Just out of the firelight a heavily-armed krogan was patrolling the perimeter, whilst two batarians were seated just inside one of the shelters. "And those are just the ones we can see," she said.

"This doesn't make sense," Garrus said quietly. "I'm willing to bet Haliat is down there, but the proximity to the mine would mean these men would be vapourised almost as fast as us, had that bomb activated. Haliat didn't seem to me to be the kind of man to throw his life away for petty revenge. Throw other peoples' lives away, sure, but not his own."

"You think the bomb was never really a threat?" she asked.

"I think your nuclear warhead is far away from here, possibly strapped to some other piece of equipment by now. It's more likely that the cave-in was supposed to seal us inside the mine and cause us to die of dehydration. Haliat's probably just sticking around in case anybody else shows up."

"Hmm." She examined the sniper rifle before handing it back to him. "You any good with that?"

"I hear that self-praise is no recommendation," he replied, patting the rifle affectionately, "but in this case, it's all the recommendation you need. Ten barely-moving targets illuminated by firelight, at this distance? I think your human expression is 'piece of cake'."

"Good. Because I have a plan."

"Let's hear it."

So she told him her plan, and he clearly didn't approve, because he kept shaking his head as she outlined the idea. And when she was finished with the details, he immediately told her why he thought it was suicidal.

"You'll be seen."

"I spent years doing exactly this sort of thing, back on Earth. And in case you've forgotten, I'm an N7 marine, as well as a Spectre. I'm perfectly capable of doing it."

"You're not as small and quiet as you think, Shepard. Not in that armour, anyway. A human is a pretty big target, and krogans have _good_ vision."

"But the krogan's the only one I have to worry about. The turians have their guard down. The batarians are watching the fire, so their night-vision is ruined. Besides, do you have a better plan?"

"Well... not exactly."

"We're against the clock. Tali needs help, fast. And this is the fastest way of getting it. My mind is made up. We're doing it. It'll give you a chance to show me how good you really are with that rifle."

"Hmph. Alright. I'll wait for your signal."

"Good."

Without another word she left the cliff, climbing carefully over the edge and making her way down the scree slope. It wasn't as quiet a way as she had hoped, but it was the shortest route, and once she reached solid ground she was shielded from view of the camp by a small rocky rise. Using this to screen her, she crept around the camp, to the first bunker. She silently unclipped a small tech mine from her belt and attached it to the base of the bunker, pressing the 'ready' button on the top. It began to flash orange, an indication that a single command would activate it. Then, mindful of the nearby figures, she left the bunker and crept towards the next one. Removing the second mine from her belt, she prepared to attach it to the bunker, but Garrus' voice over her helmet's comm made her freeze.

"Krogan, headed your way!" he warned.

Looking ahead, she saw a shadow fall across the ground as the krogan stepped in front of the fire. The shadow grew larger and shorter as he approached, until she could hear his footsteps. Sheltered in the lee of the bunker, she saw a pair of feet and the front of an assault rifle held in short, three-fingered hands, and she held her breath.

"I can take him out from here," Garrus said quietly.

"No," she hissed through clenched teeth. She was not yet ready. Not yet in position. Even if he managed to drop the krogan on the first shot, which was unlikely, she would be unable to enact the second part of her plan, and she would be caught in the crossfire. "Don't shoot."

For an eternity the entire world seemed to stand still. She closed her eyes, a foolish notion left over from her childhood that if you couldn't see the monsters, the monsters couldn't see you. Of course, she knew better now. There were no such things as monsters, and no matter how much you tried to hide, somebody would eventually find you.

There was the sound of departing footsteps. She opened her eyes and saw the shadow lengthening, and heaved a sigh of relief. She slapped the tech mine onto the bunker as Garrus spoke again.

"That was close, Shepard. Almost too close. If that krogan had taken one more step..."

"I'm nearly finished. One more mine."

"Make it quick. I think the krogan's getting suspicious."

Heeding his words, she snuck around the bunker to the largest stack of supply crates. The cover here was not as substantial as it had been behind the bunkers, and her hands were shaking with equal parts fear, excitement and adrenaline as she removed the third mine from her belt. She clipped it onto the supply crates and activated the signal receiving button, then took a deep, calming breath.

"Okay, that was the last of them," she said, knowing that he would be watching anyway through the scope of his rifle. "How's my path to the mako?"

"The krogan's between you and the vehicle. You'll have to wait a minute before he moves away."

She waited as patiently as possible, though patience had never been a personal strength. As she waited, she concentrated on keeping her breathing steady, and ran through exactly what she would need to do next. No matter how many times she went into combat, she never fully got used to it. Her body never let her go into a fight in a relaxed way. It always prepared her with adrenaline, pushing her nerves to the limit.

"You're good to move," Garrus said.

She didn't even bother looking for the krogan; he would not have told her to move if it hadn't been safe. Instead she focused on the mako, on reaching the safety of the vehicle, and when she finally ducked behind it, her heart felt like it was going to beat its way out of her chest. To distract herself she activated her omni-tool and programmed the mines to create the effect she required. Now her plan was set.

"Alright, Garrus. Take your best shot," she said.

There was no sound. His sniper rifle was fitted with a silencer, so the first she knew that he had hit his mark was a cry of alarm that was raised in the camp. By that time another body had hit the floor, and everybody within the camp was reaching for their gun.

"Light them up, Shepard," Garrus said, as the gang began firing back in his direction.

Ellie immediately activated the omni-tool's program, and the mines exploded at the same time. One of the explosions took out one of the batarians and a turian, and as the rest of the pirate gang looked around in anger and surprise, Garrus took another shot and felled another turian. Using the chaos as a screen, she hauled herself up onto the mako and reached for the door hatch. Her fingers worked nimbly, though still shaking, to unfasten the lock, and she activated her personal shield just as a projectile came whizzing past her.

The hatch opened and she dropped into the safety of the vehicle. It was the work of seconds to switch it on, and as soon as the engine was running she put it into reverse at full power. The vehicle rocked as it hit something - probably the charred remains of a bunker - but she wasn't interested in avoiding obstacles. She had to cause as much damage as possible, because without somebody to operate the mako's weapons, the vehicle itself was the only weapon she had. And if the gang were busy trying to avoid being run over by several tons of mako, they wouldn't be able to avoid Garrus' rifle.

She flipped the transmitter switch, hoping that the stronger signal would be able to reach the ship in high orbit. "Normandy, this is Shepard, do you read?"

"Commander, this is Navigator Pressly. What's the situation down there?"

The mako rocked as it hit something else, and she put it into forward gear, aiming it in the middle of the camp, where it would cause the most carnage.

"Taking fire, Normandy. Tali'Zorah's been trapped inside a mine by a cave-in, we're going to need combat engineers to get her out. Garrus and I have engaged a criminal gang, but we could use some assistance."

"Roger that, Normandy. Get the mako clear and we'll perform an aerial strike on your current location."

Conscious that her present position was about to become extremely dangerous, she turned the mako on the spot and pressed ahead with full speed, back towards the incline she had recently descended on foot. All that was left to do now was pick up Garrus, return to Tali'Zorah, and hope the young woman was still alive to be rescued.

* * *

A/N - I wouldn't kill off a team member _this_ early in the story... would I?

Sorry this chapter was a bit longer in coming. For the moment, at least, I'm concentrating on this fic instead of any of my others. We'll see how it goes. Hope you enjoy.


	19. Old Friends

Deus Ex Machina

_19. Old Friends_

It felt good to be clean. Though technically she hadn't been dirty - her armour had borne the brunt of the rock dust - she had been quite sweaty, and she had _felt_ unclean. Now she was back in her comfortable ship uniform, enjoying the feeling of air on her skin. Although she was no stranger to wearing combat armour, she viewed it as something to be worn purely out of necessity, and would never have chosen to wear it on the ship.

As she stepped out onto the crew deck, she nodded at the three marines who were seated in the mess hall. They, under Kaidan's leadership, had been there to help clean up the mess on Akuze - namely, the mess that had been Eloise Shepard in a catatonic state - and they had also been the first out of the Normandy on Agebinium, to ensure none of the pirate gang were left alive to cause trouble. In the end, there hadn't been any need to arrest Elanos Haliat; the orbital strike had negated the requirement for any sort of trial. It was not the ending she would have preferred, because she liked things to be done officially. She'd wanted to take Haliat back to Alliance command, force him to stand trial for the atrocities of the Skyllian Blitz. She had wanted to see justice served, to give some peace of mind to those who had lost relatives during the attack on Elysium. Sadly, that would never be, but at least she could report back that she had taken out a dangerous enemy to humanity, even though she hadn't been able to recover the probe's nuclear warhead. She just hoped Admiral Hackett would be content with the consolation prize.

When she entered the medbay, Doctor Chakwas looked up from her position at her desk. Her usually unlined face now showed creases of worry around her eyes, and she stood up when Ellie approached.

"Commander," Chakwas said. "I'm glad that you are alright this time, but is it really necessary to find me a new patient on every mission you attend?"

"How is she?" Ellie asked, glancing past the doctor's shoulder to Tali'Zorah, who was lying on a medical bed covered by an Alliance thermal blanket.

"To be honest, I really don't know," Chakwas sighed. She rubbed her hand over her face for a moment before continuing. "I've put a canister of dextro-protein based medi-gel into her environmental suit, and injected her with a turian sedative. For now, that's the best I can do."

"Is it enough?"

"I don't know. I've spent a considerable amount of time learning about the physiology of asari, turians, salarians, even a bit of elcor and hanar. But we know almost nothing about the quarians. All the dextro-protein medicine I have is for turians... it would be like me treating you with asari medicines. Or veterinary pharmaceuticals designed for a dog. All I can say for the moment is that what I'm giving her isn't making her any worse, but I don't know if it's making her any better."

"Can't you just... you know... scan her?"

"Not accurately. Not without removing her suit. And from what I know of quarian physiology, their immune systems are far weaker than those of any other species. Unless I was thoroughly able to sterilise the medical bay, I could end up killing her by exposing her to all manner of airborne pathogens which her body could not fight off."

"What do you suggest?" she asked, stopping by Tali's bed and examining the young woman's still-dusty mask.

"There is somebody who may be able to help us," Chakwas said. "From what I recall of the mission reports you filed, Dr Michel, on the Citadel, has already treated Tali for a gunshot wound sustained whilst avoiding Saren's hit-squad. It's possible she has a sterile room, and the knowledge of quarian physiology, to successfully help me treat Tali'Zorah. I know you have an important mission, to find Saren and the Geth-"

"We're already en route to the Citadel," Ellie assured her, placing a hand on the doctor's shoulder. Chakwas relaxed visibly at her words, the lines of worry receding once more from her face. "I need to get new armour... mine was ruined during the cave-in. Whilst we're there, Dr Michel can help with Tali."

"Thank you, commander," Chakwas said gratefully. "I haven't lost a patient aboard the Normandy yet, and I would hate to start now."

Ellie left Tali's side, wandering towards the medical cupboard where the drugs were stored. One of the sliding doors was already open, and she picked up a canister of medi-gel which had 'dextro-protein' printed on the side. Dr Chakwas was right; so far, no patient had died onboard the ship. But this had not been a voyage without casualties. Two men were dead because of another man's betrayal. That they hadn't died aboard the ship absolved Dr Chakwas of guilt, but it did not absolve Eloise.

"Do you ever get used to it?" she asked, bouncing the small canister on the palm of her hand. "Losing people you're responsible for?"

"I don't think anybody truly gets used to it," said Dr Chakwas, stepping beside her. "Some deaths... some hit you harder than others. You never forget, but you find a way to carry on. If you're worth your rank, you keep death with you and learn from it. You accept it, let it in, let it hurt, and then recover. Not everybody can do that. Some people have to shut themselves off, to protect themselves from what they can't handle. Fortunately, the latter are much rarer than the former."

Ellie put the canister down and turned to look at the older woman. Her intensive psychology training kicked in as she examined Chakwas' posture, facial expression and vocal tone. "You lost somebody close to you, didn't you?" she guessed intuitively. "Somebody you were treating, who you cared for."

If the doctor was surprised by the guess, she did not show it. "My brother," she confirmed with a nod. "He was older than me. An Alliance soldier. I looked up to him... he always looked out for me when we were growing up. He was brave, strong, fearless... and I was just out of med school when he was injured on a mission. He ended up in my care. He was the only family I had left. I promised I would take care of him, and I tried my hardest. He slipped into a coma, from which he never woke. When he was declared clinically brain-dead, I was asked to switch off his life-support machine." Dr Chakwas looked down at the canister of medi-gel sitting on the counter. "It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. As his doctor I knew that he had zero chance of recovering. As his sister... I didn't want to give up hope. I wanted to save him."

"Is that why you joined the military and began serving on ships?"

"Yes." Chakwas gave her a brief smile. "When I switched off Ben's life-support unit, I vowed that I would dedicate my life to saving soldiers. So I did."

"Tali'Zorah would be pleased to know she has the best doctor in the fleet taking care of her."

"Thank you, commander. And... thank you. For listening."

"No problem, doctor. And don't worry. We'll save Tali. We owe her that much."

o - o - o - o - o

Once the Normandy was docked at the Citadel, Ellie was content to let Dr Chakwas take charge. The doctor immediately contacted the relevant people on the station and arranged for an immediate evacuation of Tali'Zorah to the medical clinic where Dr Michel was waiting to receive her patient. Knowing that it would be some time before there would be results, she gave her crew limited shore leave and spent some time completing and then filing the mission report from Agebinium. She knew it wouldn't take long to reach Hackett; as a Spectre, she was given priority of extranet bandwidth. After a couple of hours of waiting, however, she quickly grew bored and decided to have a wander down to the clinic to see how Tali was doing. And she was clearly not alone in her concern for the quarian.

When she reached the mess hall, she found a group of people waiting. Kaidan and Williams were sitting at one table, talking quietly. At another table, Wrex was telling a shocked-looking Liara tales about his time as a mercenary. At the serving counter, Adams and Garrus were talking with Geoffrey, the cook. When Ellie stepped into the room, all eyes fell on her.

"I was going to check on Tali'Zorah," she said.

"I'll come with you," said Wrex, standing up and patting his assault rifle. "The way you're going, there's bound to be a few people between you and the clinic who need a good beating."

"I was thinking of seeing how Tali is doing as well," Garrus said. "And I'd like to see how Doctor Michel is coping, following her run-in with Fist's thugs."

"We'd like to check up on Tali as well," said Kaidan, indicating both himself an Williams, although the gunnery chief did not look particularly thrilled about it.

"I would like to accompany you... if that is okay," Liara said quietly.

"I'd like to see how Tali's doing as well," said Adams. "We owe a lot to that young woman... and she's a damn fine engineer to boot."

"You're all welcome to come to the hospital with me," she assured them. "I'm just going to let Pressly know that I'm leaving the ship, and check on Joker. Why don't you all wait in the docking area for me?"

Once everybody had left, she made her way to the CIC and found Pressly busy with some sort of calibration.

"I'm just letting you know that I'm off to the Citadel, to check on Tali," she said."

"Right you are, commander. I'll be here if you need me."

"Thanks. And Pressly? Thanks for the timely intervention back on Agebinium."

"No problem, Commander Shepard," he smiled. "Can't go losing another CO so soon, can we?"

"I'm sorry about what happened to Captain Anderson. I know the two of you have served together before. I didn't want his place."

"I know, ma'am. It's not your fault. It's just politics, and as soldiers, we're at the whim of politicians. We might not like it, but we have to obey. The captain's no different."

"I'm glad you understand. Carry on."

"Aye aye."

She stepped into the cockpit and found Joker running diagnostics on the Normandy's navigation system. He ignored her approach, and opened a comm channel to the CIC.

"Alright, Pressly, give it another three percent," he said.

"What are you doing?" Ellie asked him.

"Hey commander. We're trying to boost the sensor accuracy, so we can get a clearer picture of what's going on when you and your team are planet-side."

"Can you do that?" Surely the Normandy, the Alliance fleet's state-of-the-art prototype frigate, couldn't be improved any further… could she?

"I guess we'll find out."

"You won't break anything, will you?"

"Probably not," he replied, and she hoped he was joking.

"Great. Well, thanks for trying. Any extra performance you can get is much appreciated. By the way, a few of us are going to see how Tali's doing. Do you want to come?"

"No thanks. Not big on hospitals. I've seen enough of them to last a lifetime. Though now you mention it, what do you think Tali looks like inside that suit?"

"I have no idea. Does it really matter?"

"Sure it does. How can you trust somebody who hides their appearance? I mean, who knows what else she's hiding? Know what I think? The quarians are actually robots."

"Robots?" she asked, one eyebrow rising of its own accord.

"Robots, androids, synthetics, whatever you want to call them. It would explain why they hide behind coloured masks. And why their voices have that synthesised quality to them. And why they're so good with tech."

"Why would robots need to create the geth as servants for manual labour?"

"Robot reproduction?" he shrugged. "Anyway, just give it some thought. That's all I'm saying."

"Uh-huh. I'll see you later, Joker."

"Later, commander."

She left him and gathered up the rest of her crew in the docking area. As usual, small transport vehicles zipped overhead, avoiding the main routes that larger ships such as Normandy took to dock. Though she had no idea what time it was on the station, several merchant and cargo ships were coming and going, whilst the Destiny Ascension was visible patrolling the perimeter of the station. Even now, the asari dreadnought's size still amazed Ellie.

Getting everybody into the elevator was a challenge, and she found herself squeezed between Williams, who was trying her best to avoid standing near Wrex, Garrus or Liara, and Adams, who looked pleased about the prospect of a foray onto the station. Engineers, she knew, didn't really get out much. They preferred to spend their down-time running diagnostics on the engines and fixing things, and she doubted that anybody other than Tali would have drawn Adams from his usual place in the drive-core room.

"Excuse me, Wrex," Liara said, her voice quiet and oozing politeness, "but you're standing on my foot."

"Hmph, sorry," he replied.

Ellie smiled to herself. Liara was so different to anybody else on the ship. Everybody else was used to ship-life, used to combat and adversity. Dr T'Soni, however, was a scientist, and although her work undoubtedly took her to planets where luxuries such as regular baths and hot meals were likely forgone, she clearly wasn't comfortable on a ship, and even less so in small, crowded areas.

When the elevator stopped and they all stepped out into C-sec headquarters, their arrival drew more than a few glances. C-sec officers and civilians alike stopped to watch as humanity's first Spectre sauntered through the building with three humans, an asari, a krogan mercenary and a former turian C-sec officer in tow.

"This makes a pleasant change," Wrex said. "Not being stopped for hours of questioning by C-Sec. Sometimes I think harassing innocent visitors to the station keeps most of the C-Sec officers in a job."

"If you were innocent, C-Sec wouldn't need to question you," Garrus pointed out.

"That's what you'd like to think. But you know as well as I do, kid, that it doesn't always work like that. That's why you left them. How many crimes were committed whilst C-Sec officers were wasting valuable time questioning me, when I hadn't even done anything wrong?"

"You killed Fist."

"Yeah, but that was only after I got questioned for crimes I hadn't committed. Bit of a backwards way of doing things, isn't it?"

"Let's not argue semantics," Ellie said. "In case you've forgotten, Tali is lying in hospital at this very minute. I think there are more important things to worry about than C-Sec's modus operandi."

Wrex shook his head in irritation. "If you plan on becoming a regular on the Citadel, you should get used to the way C-Sec do things, because they can make your life a misery if they choose. Anyway, the quarian will be fine. Her species are tougher than you might think. I'm off to the Wards. Later, Shepard."

He ambled off as soon as they left C-Sec HQ, and Ellie watched him go.

"He is very old, and wiser than he seems," Liara said, stepping beside her.

"I can't imagine living as long as he has," Ellie replied. "But you will. What do you think you'll be doing in another thousand years?"

"Oh, I don't know," Liara said, with a shy smile. "Probably still poking around in prothean ruins, trying to learn as much as possible about their way of life. That is, of course, providing we're able to stop Saren and the geth from carrying out whatever madness they're planning."

"We'll stop them. I won't accept any alternative."

"I hope you can keep your determination. Things won't get any easier now that Saren knows we're on to him."

Ellie surreptitiously studied the asari woman as they led the small group towards the medical clinic. Liara seemed... sad. Melancholy. She didn't know what was causing the asari's sombre mood, but she made a mental note to ask her about it later.

"I haven't been to the Citadel in quite some time," Liara continued, looking around at her surroundings. "I passed through a few decades ago, but it didn't hold all that much interest for me."

"Really? I would have thought that a space-station built by the protheans would be right up your alley."

"Everything that could be learnt from this place, was learnt long ago, before I was even born. There is no mystery here, anymore. No sense of excitement and expectation as you turn over a stone and know that you might find something wondrous beneath it. It is my desire to find something which nobody has ever found before, but whatever that is, it won't be found here."

"If you ask me, Liara T'soni, you're a romantic," she smiled.

Liara looked slightly embarrassed by her words, and Ellie got the impression that if asari could blush, Liara would be the colour of a beetroot right now.

"I must admit," Liara replied, "that I find everything about the protheans to be exciting. Almost intoxicating. Every time I find some small nugget of information, the most mundane of artifacts, I get such a sense of accomplishment over it. Unravelling the mystery of the protheans is what keeps me moving forward."

Ellie smiled. Liara's enthusiasm was infectious, and when she spoke about the protheans, her face seemed to light up with an inner glow.

"The place is a lot quieter than the last time we were here," Ashley said, looking up at the medical clinic sign.

"Dr Michel's place is normally pretty quiet," said Garrus. "Armed thugs are a rare occurrence here."

"Do you know Dr Michel well?" Ellie asked.

"We've spoken a few times, she's even treated me once, but her clinic is one of the smaller ones, and it's usually humans and the occasional krogan who come to her for medical assistance. She's a nice woman, though. Very dedicated to helping people in need. I'm not surprised Tali ended up in her care, when she was shot previously."

"Let's just hope Dr Michel's been able to do as much for Tali this time," she replied, and stepped into the clinic. There was no sign of Doctor Michel, but a nurse was standing behind the admittance counter, a human man dressed in clean white medical slacks. "Hi," she said, approaching the desk. "I've come to check on a member of my crew; Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"She's still in surgery. You must be Commander Shepard?" She nodded. "Dr Chakwas said you might come by. She said you should wait. It might be a while." He gestured to the seats set against the wall, and Ellie took one for herself. Kaidan and Adams sat on either side of her, and Liara and Garrus took the next two. Ashley, meanwhile, fidgeted near the desk.

"Y'know commander, I'm not really big on hospitals. Or waiting. Why don't I go and make myself useful by requisitioning you some new armour?"

"Alright, Chief. I'll see you back on the Normandy."

Williams gave her a grateful smile, and disappeared from the clinic. No doubt window-shopping for guns would keep her out of trouble for some time, and she could hardly blame the woman for not liking hospitals. She herself hoped she'd never have to see one again, at least from a patient point of view.

When Ashley had left, Ellie and the remaining Normandy crewmembers settled in for a long wait. For a time she entertained herself by tinkering with her omni-tool, and then playing omni-tool battleships with Kaidan. When she grew bored of beating him - he wasn't the most tactically minded person in the military - she browsed the collection of electronic magazines available on the waiting room table. Liara was already reading through a copy of _Scientist Weekly,_ whilst Garrus was reading a copy of _Guns and Ammo_. The majority of the e-zines didn't interest Ellie, however, so she turned her attention to the programme being aired on the extranet screen. It appeared to be some sort of space soap, involving a krogan-asari couple who were trying to bring up their children on a remote planet where the inhabitants were less than enthusiastic about asari-krogan couplings. It was called _Years of Our Lives,_ and it seemed mostly to comprise of bad acting and poorly maintained sets. In short, it did not impress.

"Commander Shepard?" Ellie looked up to see both Doctors Chakwas and Michel standing in front of her, wearing medical slacks.

"How is she?" she asked immediately.

"She's going to be fine," said Chakwas. "We've just finished operating. One of her vertebrae was damaged but we've managed to repair it so she won't suffer any lasting damage."

"Can I see her?"

"She is sleeping," said Dr Michel. "Quarians are more strongly affected by anaesthetics, so she will be unconscious for some hours yet. It would be best if you returned later. I can contact you when she is awake, if you like."

"I suppose I could be doing other things whilst I wait for Tali to regain consciousness," she admitted.

"If you don't mind, commander, I'd like to stay for a while longer," said Adams.

"Alright Adams. Doctors... I have an important mission to carry out; stopping Saren. When you you think Tali will be able to return to the Normandy? I don't want to leave her behind, but I'm painfully aware of how little time I may have."

"Tomorrow," said Dr Chakwas. "We need to keep her in overnight for observation, and to ensure that she doesn't catch infection. Dr Michel and I did as much as possible to sterilise the room and ourselves before removing Tali's suit, but we can't be too careful."

"Ah, commander, I was hoping I'd still find you here!"

Ellie turned, and found herself facing one of the Normandy's communications operators, a man named Johnson. He saluted her when she turned, and offered her a PDA.

"We'll leave you to it, commander," said Chakwas, and both she and Michel retreated into the treatment rooms of the clinic.

"What's this, Johnson?" Ellie asked, indicating the PDA.

"Messages, commander. We've been inundated with them since we docked. Eventually, Pressly got tired of sending out automated replies, and asked me to come and find you. "As you can see from the pad, you've had a lot of them. The Council wants to meet with you. Ambassador Udina wants to meet with you. Barla Von has requested that you stop by his office. Sha'ira wants you to visit her. Nassana Dantius has asked you to speak with her in the Embassy bar. Emily Wong would like to meet you 'somewhere quiet'."

"I don't even know half of those people! Who are they, and what do they want with me?"

"I don't know, commander," said Johnson. "I think that's the whole point of having to go and meet them. They'll probably tell you."

"Alright," she sighed. "Thanks, Johnson. Let Pressly know I'm dealing with it."

"That all sounds rather hectic and official," Liara said hesitantly as Johnson left. "I think I may return to the ship. I have no desire to speak to the Council... they would undoubtedly have difficult questions for me, and that's something I wish to avoid for as long as possible. I will be on the Normandy, should you need me."

"Something tells me she's feeling a little out of her depth," Kaidan said, watching Liara leave.

"She's not the only one," Ellie admitted. "A week ago I was shelling batarians on Sidon. Now everybody wants to be my friend, even people I haven't met before. I don't know why. I'm just a soldier."

"You're 'just' the commander of the most advanced prototype frigate in Council space, and humanity's first Spectre. Of course people want a piece of the action that is Eloise Shepard."

"You shouldn't let yourself get bogged down by the politics of the Citadel, Shepard," Garrus warned. "Once you get into politics, you're never free of it."

"Is that what you think all these meetings are about? Politics?"

"What else can it be?" he shrugged. "Nassana Dantius is an asari emissary here on the Citadel. Barla Von is an agent for the Shadow Broker, as well as a financial genius. Sha'ira the Consort is an asari of power and influence amongst some of the highest ranking people on the station. Whatever they want to meet with you for, it's probably not to give you their personal congratulations on your promotion."

"I suppose not," she said, with another sigh. "You know, sometimes I miss the honesty of shooting at batarians. You always knew where you stood. I suppose I should go and see Udina first. From what I remember he has a holographic link to the Council in his office, so I could use that and negate the need to speak to them in person."

"Good luck, commander," Adams said, sitting down on one of the waiting room chairs. "Don't let them push you around."

"I won't. And thanks. Something tells me I'm going to need it."

o - o - o - o - o

"The prothean ruins on Therum were completely destroyed, Commander Shepard," said Councillor Tevos, the asari representative. Her holographic projection did not look pleased.

"That dig site could have held extremely important information," said the turian councillor, Sparatus. "It will take years to dig back down to that level... if there's even anything left to dig to."

"What possible reason can you have for what transpired on Therum, commander?" asked Valern, the salarian councillor.

"The destruction of the ruins was an unfortunate side-effect of freeing Dr Liara T'Soni. It wasn't my intention to destroy them, and I take full responsibility for my actions, but I will not apologise for them. It was the only way."

"In future," said Valern, "it might be beneficial for you to contact us for instruction before taking action which risks historically and scientifically important archeological sites."

"I was cut off from my ship and had no way of making galaxy-wide calls," she explained, with as much patience as she was able to gather. "Furthermore, I did not have time to get back to my ship, contact you, and wait for you to come to a decision. Immediate action was required. My team's position was precarious, with a heavy geth presence in the area. Soon after we rescued Dr T'Soni we were ambushed, and had to fight for our lives." She stepped towards the flickering holographic projections. "These are the difficult decisions you sent me to make. And I don't believe you'd be questioning any of your _other_ Spectres about their decisions. This is because I'm new to the job, and you're worried that important people will question your decision to make a human a Spectre. Let me just do my job."

"What about Liara T'Soni?" Tevos asked, neatly avoiding the accusation. "Have you questioned her about her mother's involvement with Saren and the geth?"

"Yes. She doesn't know why her mother is working with Saren, but she's willing to help me find out."

"Her mother is an apparent fugitive," said Sparatus. "Are we to believe her word can be trusted? Perhaps you should hand her over to C-Sec for questioning. The C-Sec officers have a lot of experience in interrogating hostile prisoners."

"I believe what Doctor T'Soni has told me," she said, turning to face the turian councillor. "And I'm not handing her ove to C-Sec. I need her with me."

All three councillors shared a glance, and then Tevos spoke again.

"Very well, Commander Shepard. We will leave you to follow up your leads, but we will be watching you very closely. As, I'm sure, the whole galaxy will be."

The three holograms disappeared, leaving Ambassador Udina's office a little darker than it had been. The symbolism of that was not lost on Ellie, but she didn't get chance to think about it in any depth.

"Your actions on Therum were reckless, commander," Udina said. He had been, if possible, even angrier than the councillors about the loss of the prothean ruins. He thought that it reflected badly on humanity, that their first Spectre had been the cause of their destruction.

"My actions were necessary, Ambassador," she assured him. "It was the only course of action to take at the time. You can question the rest of my team, including Dr T'Soni, if you require verification of the severity of our situation."

"Bah, that's the problem with soldiers," Udina said. "Always thinking with your guns instead of your heads. I don't doubt that your team would back you up, Shepard, but they're not the ones having to deal with the political ramifications of this mess."

"No," she said. "They're the ones who had to fight for their lives against incredible odds and in the face of adversity. If you want to switch places then be my guest. I'll happily sit here in the lap of comfort, and you can handle being shot at."

"Just because I am not holding a gun goes not mean I am not fighting. Every day I fight for the rights of billions of humans in the galaxy. Every day I fight to get us as much sway as possible with the Council. You might be fighting for your life, but I'm fighting for humanity. Your weapons are bullets, mine are words and laws and regulations and treaties. Remember that, commander, the next time you question my dedication."

He stormed from the room, watched by Ellie, Kaidan, Garrus, and Captain Anderson. When the door swished quietly closed, Anderson shook his head, and lay a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't let him get to you, commander. You're doing a fine job," he said. "I read your mission report, and I agree with your decision. Doing the right thing usually means making a tough decision. It's hard for Udina and the Councillors to accept what happened because they're looking back at it, but I've been in your position. I know what it's like."

"Thank you, captain," she said, giving him a salute of respect. "It's... not easy, out there. I'm so used to having a chain of command to follow, somebody to report to. And whilst I know I'm still a part of the Alliance military, I'm also, in some ways, outside of the law, because I'm a Spectre. I guess I'm just struggling to understand where I fit in. And what if Ambassador Udina gives me an order that is then superceded by another order from the Council? Or if Admiral Hackett asks me to do something that the Council wouldn't approve of?"

"It's a tough one alright, Shepard," Anderson agreed. "I'd say for now, act in the manner which is befitting of your standards. Everything else will hopefully become clearer in the future."

"So you're basically just saying I should do what I think is right and hope for the best?"

"Pretty much," he smiled. "I should go and try to smooth Udina's feathers down a little. Admiral Hackett asked me to let you know that he wants to speak with you before you leave the Citadel."

"Yes, sir," she said, and, along with Kaidan, saluted him as he left.

"That could have gone better," Garrus said. "It looks like you're getting my share of the red tape that I left behind."

"Fortunately, we won't be here very long," she said. "As soon as Tali's onboard, we'll be heading back out to find Saren. And we'll be far away from the Council."

"But unfortunately not out of communications range," Kaidan pointed out.

"Maybe we could have a malfunction of the Normandy's comm system," she joked. Then, sighing, she looked down at her PDA, at the list of names it held. So many people to speak to, so little time...

"Might I recommend going to see Nassana Dantius first?" Garrus asked, watching her read the PDA. "We are right next door to the embassy bar, after all."

"Sounds good. Which way to the bar?"

"I could use a drink," said Kaidan. "I think we all could. Are we technically off-duty yet?"

"I suppose we are," she admitted.

"The bar's just a couple of corridors away," Garrus said. He led the way out of Udina's office, and then stopped to look at something. Stepping around him, Ellie noticed a Keeper working on a panel set into the wall, and a salarian crouching over the Keeper, scanning it with some sort of device. "What are you doing?" Garrus demanded.

The salarian jumped, looked incredibly guilty, and tried to hide his scanner behind his back. "I... uh... nothing," he said.

"Looks to me like you're scanning the Keepers," Ellie pointed out. "Isn't that illegal?"

"Yes," said Garrus.

"No!" the salarian countered quickly. "Look, only interfering with the Keepers is illegal. But my scans aren't doing that. Each time I scan one I get a tiny amount of data back."

"Why are you doing this?" Kaidan asked.

"Because nothing is known about the Keepers! They are here, doing their work to maintain the Citadel. Nobody knows where they come from, or how many there are, or whether they die or are replaced. We just accept that they're here to work. I'm developing a medical scanner, and improving it by scanning the Keepers. This technology could one day save lives, and in the mean time, we might find out a bit more about these enigmatic beings. Is that such a crime?"

"Why all the secrecy and denial if you're not committing an offence?" Garrus asked him.

"Well... let's just say that C-Sec and the Council might not agree that my scans are harmless. But they are! I've already scanned a few Keepers, but I'm limited to what I can do. Say... I recognise you. You're that new Spectre, aren't you?" he asked, peering at Ellie.

"Commander Shepard," she said, offering her hand. He shook it enthusiastically.

"A pleasure, commander. My name is Chorban. You wouldn't be interested in helping me, would you? It's not illegal, I can pay you a few credits for every Keeper you scan, and once I have enough, I'd be more than willing to share the data collected with you. I can also put you on my list of preferred clients once I've got my medical scanner perfected."

"I suppose it can't hurt," she shrugged. "And if it helps to one day save lives..."

"Oh, absolutely!" Chorban nodded, and handed over his scanner. "Thank you, commander, your assistance will be invaluable. I'll let you know when I have enough data. Happy scanning!" He disappeared in a hurry, as if afraid the whole thing might be a set-up.

"Technically we should confiscate his scanner, report him to C-Sec and turn the equipment over as evidence," said Garrus, glancing at the scanner in Ellie's hand.

"Yeah, but that would just take valuable C-Sec resources away from _actual_ crimes," she pointed out.

"True."

"You're not really going to go around scanning Keepers, are you Ellie?" Kaidan asked.

"Sure. Why not? Maybe we'll eventually get something out of it. Like Chorban said, this device could one day save lives. I think a small amount of inconvenience on my behalf is worth that."

o - o - o - o - o

Urdnot Wrex strolled through the Citadel's markets, and the crowd parted before him. Most people, even those who weren't particularly bright, did not want to stand in a krogan's path, and the more scars a krogan had, the more people avoided him. Wrex himself had a great many scars, although not all of them were visible. A krogan without scars, in his opinion, was a krogan who could not be trusted. It showed he was afraid to fight and afraid to take a punch, and just the thought of a cowardly krogan was enough to make him growl. Which, of course, made the crowd part all the faster.

He descended the stairs to the lower market, to a place he had heard sold weapons. The last time he had been here, this place had been an asari restaurant, selling fine asari cuisine. Or at least, what they _alleged_ was fine asari cuisine but really tasted like something only the salarians could truly enjoy. Now, however, the restaurant was gone, proving that everything changed, if you gave it enough time. Instead of the restaurant, half a dozen small stalls had been set up in its place, with various merchants selling their wares. Most of it was probably barely legal, but he didn't care about what was or was not legal. Laws changed, too, and what was legal today would be illegal in another hundred years.

The shop he was looking for was tended to by a nervous-looking salarian, and as Wrex approached, the salarian's nervousness increased tenfold. He began blinking raipdly in that irritating way that salarians blinked, and rubbed his hands together as if wishing he was anywhere else.

"Why, hello, potential valued customer," the salarian said hurriedly. "Welcome to Morlan's-"

"I heard you sell upgrades for these," Wrex interrupted, dumping his assault rifle on the counter.

"That's right, only the finest quality upgrades from Morlan's-"

"So upgrade it."

"Err, I'd be only too happy to upgrade your weapon, valued customer. Perhaps if you told me how much you were looking to spend, I could make some recommendations."

He threw a PDA down onto the store counter, which held a credit chit; his payment from the Shadow Broker, for dealing with Fist. When Morlan saw it, his eyes went slightly wider. How that was even possible, Wrex did not know.

"I see!" the salarian said. "For this price, you could have the newest model with accuracy and thermal heat sink upgrades."

"There's a new model out?"

"Since this one was made," Morlan said, tapping the rifle, "there have been two new models. Tell you what, you buy the newest one from me, and I'll throw in a free disruptor ammo upgrade option. What do you say?"

"Fine," he grunted, pleased that he'd be getting a new weapon but not wanting to show it. The shop-keeper _was_ salarian, after all. "But I don't want to have to wait weeks for delivery."

"No waiting at Morlan's Famous Emporium! I have one of the weapons boxed and ready to ship."

"Urdnot Wrex?"

Wrex turned at the sound of the familiar voice, and looked into a face he hadn't seen for nearly three-hundred years.

"I thought that was you," the other krogan continued. With a red crest and a few less scars, he was almost identical to Wrex. The main difference between them was their eyes; Wrex's eyes were red, whilst the eyes of the newcomer were yellow.

"Well well," Wrex replied. "Urdnot Dagg. Surprised to see you here. Didn't think you had the brains to make it off Tuchanka."

"And I didn't think you had the brains to make it back. So I thought I better come find you myself... before you died of old age."

"I might have a few years on you, but I can still make you cry like a quarian with a stomach ache!"

Behind the shop counter, Morlan was slowly shrinking downwards, making himself as small and invisible as possible. Some of the other shop keepers, meanwhile, were surreptitiously reaching for their own weapons. Wrex shook his head. Cowards, all of them. It always ended like this, when two or more krogan were in the same room. Everybody else waited for the violence to start. At least he didn't have to put up with that on the Normandy. Shepard seemed mostly free of the bias and prejudice most people had towards krogan. Not that the reputation was unearned, but it was nice to be treated with something other than fear or disdain for a change. Now, if he could only find a way to get rid of the turian...

"It's good to see a friendly face out here, Wrex," said Dagg, gripping Wrex's arm in greeting.

"Your face might be friendly, but it sure hasn't gotten any better looking," Wrex said, slapping Dagg's armour with a blow that would have sent anybody other than a krogan sprawling.

"Ha! Haven't looked in a mirror lately, have you?"

Now that it was obvious there would be no violence, the rest of the shop keepers relaxed and stopped reaching for hidden weapons, whilst Morlan miraculously reappeared.

"I'll just go and get your weapon, valued customer," he said. "Be right back." Then he disappeared through a door in the back of his shop, probably to a store room.

"What are you doing here, Dagg?" Wrex asked his younger broodbrother.

"Like I said, looking for you, Wrex."

"So I heard. But why?"

"We need you back. Wreav's making a mess of everything."

"I'm shocked," he said flatly.

"Don't get me wrong, he's done a lot for Clan Urdnot, made our name one to be feared and respected on Tuchanka. But he's building more and more weapons, talking about taking the entire planet for ourselves. I'm all for more territory, but all-out war... the clans will unite against us, Wrex. It will be the end of Clan Urdnot."

"So stop him."

"I've thought about it," Dagg admitted, and Wrex was surprised. The younger brother he remembered leaving behind would not have considered anything so bold. Perhaps time on Tuchanka under Wreav's rule had changed him. "But without a strong leader to step into his place, it would be chaos, as clan-brothers vie for leadership. It would destroy us as surely as all-out war with the other clans would."

"Every time I've tried to help Clan Urdnot, tried to help the krogan, it's blown up in my face," he pointed out, seeing where Dagg's words were going.

"So you're going to stay here and be some human girl's pet krogan?"

Wrex growled at the implication. "I'm going to stay here and honour the promise I gave to help a Spectre," he said. "You might not recall what honour is, Dagg, but I do. I gave the Shepard my word that I'd help her take out Saren and the geth. If we don't stop them, there might not _be_ a Tuchanka to go back to."

"And after that?" Dagg asked, his yellow eyes demanding an immediate response.

"I haven't thought that far ahead. I like to keep my options open."

"We need you, Wrex," Dagg said, stepping closer to him. "You're the only one strong enough to defeat Wreav and step up to lead Clan Urdnot. The others will follow you. Most of them agree with me, that Wreav is trying to take too much, too fast. And those who don't agree... I can change their minds." He linked his fingers and flexed them, making them crack. "I can be very persuasive."

"If Wreav learns you've come here to look for me-"

"He thinks I've come to buy some newer weapons we can use to copy and make more of. Even gave me a nice sum of credits for it. Taking apart and copying the weapons I'll take back should keep Clan Urdnot busy for some time. He won't declare war in anything less than a year. But after that..."

Dagg didn't finish his sentence. He didn't need to. Wrex knew what would happen if his foolish brother took Clan Urdnot to war. It would be destroyed, completely and utterly. And, despite the fact that he had left his homeworld and swore never to return, turning his back not just on the krogan in general but on his own kin, he still cared. If there was a chance that he could stop Wreav from wreaking havoc and destroying the clan, he had to try. And Dagg knew it.

"Alright," Wrex said at last. "I've got this thing with Shepard, but after that, I'll come back. Whilst I'm busy, it would help if you could sound out the rest of the clan, figure out who can be trusted, who needs working on, and who I'll have to beat into a bloody pulp." He gave a grunt of distaste. "Listen to me, making plans behind my own clan's backs like some... salarian."

"Not a salarian. A leader. Because that's what you are, Wrex. Everything you'll do, you'll do for the good of Clan Urdnot, to make us stronger."

"And hopefully cleverer," he added.

"Let's not hope for miracles."

The salarian reappeared from the back room with a shiny new assault rifle in his arms. "Here you go, valued customer. Please, feel free to handle it and ensure it is right for your killing needs."

Wrex picked it up and held it in firing position, feeling the weight and the balance. It felt... good. Right. He knew he'd found a weapon he could be happy with, though he'd have to use it in battle to be sure it was perfect.

"I'll take it," he said.

"Excellent! Would you like me to box it up for you?"

"No need. I'll take it as-is."

"Today a new weapon," said Dagg, giving him a friendly punch on the back, "tomorrow a new Clan Urdnot. Come on, Battlemaster, let's find somewhere I can buy you a drink."

o - o - o - o - o

The music of Flux was fast and loud as Garrus entered the main room of the club which never closed. A dozen people were on the dance floor, some of them dancing in time to the music, and others doing entirely their own thing. He recognised a few of them as regular faces, though he didn't know them by name. The down side of working for C-Sec was that the people you knew by name were usually criminals. It wasn't the best job for making new friends, but he'd made plenty of new enemies over the years.

At the far end of the room, in a raised section of the club, half a dozen quasar boxes sang out as people threw credits into the machines, but Garrus ignored them. Gambling had never interested him, and gamblers usually had little of interest to say. Instead, he scanned the crowd, looking at the people seated at tables. When he located the person he was looking for, he made his way over and took the empty seat at the small table.

"Evening, Chellick," he said.

"Garrus," the other turian replied. "Good to see you. I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

"Sorry, I was running late. Had some things to take care of."

Chellick gave an amused snort. "That's the exact same excuse you used to get out of attending your own farewell party."

"It wasn't an excuse. I genuinely had something to do."

"What could be more important than going to your own leaving party?"

"Calling your father over the extranet to tell him that you're leaving your mostly safe, generally respected and adequately paid job in Citadel Security to join a Spectre on a human prototype warship in hunting down a rogue Spectre and his army of genocidal synthetics?"

"Ah." Chellick's face was suddenly sympathetic. "And how did that go?"

"About as well as could be expected. Suffice it to say, I think I'll be avoiding Palaven for the next thirty or so years." _At least._

"And how's the whole Spectre thing working out for you?"

"Well... I killed a thresher maw. Not by hand," he admitted. "And I did have a bit of help. Oh, and yesterday I almost got killed in a cave-in, and then had a shoot-out with Terminus System pirates. But apart from that it's been pretty quiet."

Chellick shook his head. "For your sake, I hope you make a better privateer than you do C-Sec officer."

"I was a good C-Sec officer," he replied, unable to keep the hurt from him voice.

"You were a good _investigator_, Garrus. One of the best. But we both know you didn't have the patience for officer work. Sometimes it seemed like Pallin was hauling you into his office every other day. I know you were fed up with the system and getting restless. I guess I just didn't realise how far it had gone with you."

"Pallin thinks I've made a big mistake, quitting C-Sec. My father thinks I've made a big mistake. What do _you_ think?" he asked his oldest friend.

"I think you're being watched."

"What?"

"Don't turn around," Chellick said, his gaze slipping past Garrus' face. Chellick had, as always, picked a table in the far corner of the room, opposite the door, so that he could see everybody who entered without easily being seen himself. In C-Sec, you learnt the hard way to put your back against a wall and your face to whatever entrance was around. Most criminals were not above sneaking behind you to enact revenge whilst your back was turned. "There's a human watching you. A woman."

"What does she look like?"

"Like she'd happily put a gun to your head and pull the trigger, and never lose a moment's sleep over it."

Garrus turned his head slightly and caught sight of a figure on the far side of the room, and recognised her instantly. Lieutenant Alenko and several other members of the Normandy's crew were nearby as well, but there was no sign of their commanding officer. Probably in the hospital, visiting Tali'Zorah, he suspected.

"That's Ashley Williams," he told Chellick. "She hates me, but it's nothing to worry about."

"Heh, what'd you do to her?" Chellick asked, a wicked gleam in his eye.

"Nothing. Her grandfather was the base commander of Shanxi, during the Relay 314 Incident."

"Ah. Well, I suppose her hatred is understandable. Maybe she'd like me better?"

"Oh, sure, just go and introduce yourself, I'm sure you'll get along great."

Chellick craned his neck, looking at the humans of the Normandy, and looking rather dissatisfied. "Where's the Spectre?"

"I don't know. Probably busy doing Spectre things, I suppose. Or maybe suffering yet another Alliance admiral wanting a tour of her ship."

"What's she like?"

"Beautiful," Garrus said. "Fast, efficient and deadly. Quiet, too. You can't even hear her when she's running at full power. And with the stealth systems engaged, she can launch devastating surprise attacks. Granted, I haven't seen her full capabilities yet, but I'm sure I will soon."

"Err... yeah, great," Chellick said, clearly fighting back a grin. "But I meant what's the _Spectre_ like?"

"Oh. You know. Human. Female. Not really what I was expecting."

"You were expecting something other than a human female?"

"No," he said, feeling himself frown. Before he could respond, however, the waitress, Rita, appeared.

"Can I get you anything to drink, sir?" she asked, a slightly forced smile painted on her tired-looking face.

"Turian brandy, please," he said. "With ice." When Rita returned to the bar, he continued his explanation to Chellick. "I just thought that with being a Spectre, she'd be more open to doing things a little less... officially. But she's almost as big on following rules as Pallin. It's frustrating, sometimes, because it's almost like she's holding herself back. Instead of doing things her way, she does things the military way. But there's nothing to stop her from doing things her way if she chose. She has the power and freedom of a Spectre, but it's like it doesn't even mean anything to her. She's not using any of it."

"Maybe she's afraid of it," Chellick shrugged. "It's gotta be a pretty big responsibility, being humanity's first Spectre. Maybe she's worried that if she does something and makes a mistake, it will reflect badly on her people. I mean, I sure as hell want to know what humanity's first Spectre is going to do next. In a way I envy you, because you'll get to see it all first hand. You won't have to wait for the the first vid to come out."

Rita returned with his drink, and he thanked her. "Yeah, I suppose," he said to Chellick.

"Enough of the melancholy," said Chellick, picking up his glass. "Here's to you, and the new life you're making for yourself. Regardless of what Pallin thinks, and regardless of what your father thinks, I know you'll do your best."

"Thanks." Garrus picked up his own glass, clinked it against Chellick's, and took a tip of the brandy. It burnt his throat on the way down, but in a good way.

"Now," Chellick said, leaning forward to speak confidentially, "speaking of women, when are you going to introduce me to this sister of yours?"

"How about 'never'?" he said, giving his friend an amused snort.

"You don't trust me with your sister?"

"I don't trust my sister with you. Believe me, she's a master manipulator of men. You wouldn't last five minutes near her. In fact, most women are like that. They use their looks to hook you and reel you in and before you know it you're buying drinks everywhere you go and shopping for your first Illium Skald Fish together."

"Says the voice of wisdom when it comes to all things related to women," Chellick scoffed. "When was the last time you even went out with a woman?"

"Well," he said hesitantly, struggling to remember when it had been. "There was that time when... or maybe it was... and then... Hmm. I suppose it's been a while."

"A while indeed. Tell you what, I know this girl, she's nice, pretty enough... why don't I hook the two of you up?"

"I'm not going on a blind date," he said. Then he realised he would be leaving in the morning anyway, back on the hunt for Saren. He didn't have time for dating. "In fact, I'm not going on any date. But just out of curiosity, who's the girl?"

"She works in Chora's Den as a waitress. Her name's Jenna, she's a human."

"The one with the red hair?" he asked.

"Yeah, you know her?"

"No, but I read your files on her before I left C-Sec," he said smugly.

Chellick, however, did not seem pleased. "That's classified, Garrus. If anybody finds out-"

"Don't worry, nobody will find out," he assured his friend. It would be a huge risk to Jenna, if it was discovered she was secretly working for C-Sec, passing along information overhead whilst working in Chora's Den to Chellick, who was her handler. He decided a change of topic was in order. "Besides... a human?"

"You don't like humans?" Chellick asked, sounding surprised.

"I have nothing against them. It's just... the whole hair thing. I can't imagine it feeling very nice."

"Ha! You'd be surprised at how nice it _does_ feel. Human women do this thing to their hair called _shampoo_, it makes it feel silky and soft."

"How do _you_ know what human womens' hair feels like?"

"Because I'm a better investigator than you," Chellick said, a hint of gloating in his voice. Then his tone became a little more serious. "Anyway, what about that Dr Michel? She likes you."

"Honestly, Chellick, I don't have time for women or dating right now. There is far too much at stake."

"See, this is what I mean," Chellick sighed in exasperation. "It's all about work work work with you, Garrus. You never give yourself time for anything else. Anyone would think you're trying to save the galaxy."

Garrus picked up his glass again, and watched the small ice cubes bounce off the side of the glass, colliding gently with each other.

"Something like that," he said.

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter, valued customer!


	20. Diplomacy

Deus Ex Machina

_20. Diplomacy_

It was late night Citadel-time, and Ellie was sitting at her small desk in her private quarters aboard the Normandy. The majority of the crew were taking the chance to visit the Citadel; some had gone shopping for souvenirs and gifts for family members back home - wherever home might be - and others had gone to visit Flux, to enjoy a night of casual drinking, enthusiastic dancing and, in Ellie's personal opinion, completely rubbish music.

She herself had taken advantage of the relative quietness to have a long hot shower, enjoying the feeling of almost-scalding water on her skin. She hoped that by heating her muscles they would get the message and relax, and that she might, for once, have a night of sleep that was uninterrupted by dreams of dead men or nightmares of Reapers wiping out Protheans. To further aid the process she was slowly sipping a glass of whisky, which would hopefully make her even more sleepy.

There was a lot for her to think about, and most of it unpleasant. The visions caused by the Prothean beacon were always at the forefront of her mind, and they plagued her sleep most nights too. On the one night she hadn't dreamt about Reapers, she had instead dreamt that she was back on Eden Prime, talking to Jenkins, Nihlus and Admiral Parsons - all men who were dead. That in itself was disturbing enough, but she hadn't even known that Parsons was dead when she was speaking to him. It was only the day after the dream she had received word of his death from her old squad-mates. And now, suddenly, Parsons' words made sense to her.

_I'll be seeing you again soon, Shepard._

What else could he have meant? She was going to die. That the words had been said to her in a dream by a dead man did not make her feel any better, nor take away the threat that she felt. And as much as she wished she could dismiss the events that had happened whilst she had been sleeping as a dream, she had never had such a surreal yet realistic dream before. She could understand why she might dream about Jenkins and Nihlus; survivor guilt was something she was painfully familiar with. But to have Parsons randomly turn up in a dream, to tell her that he approved of her... That sort of thing surely wasn't dream-material, and it was too much of a coincidence that it had happened right after he'd died.

Staring without seeing at her computer screen, she rubbed a hand over her eyes. She was tired, and half of the reason was because of all the running around she'd done during the earlier part of the evening. Nassana Dantius had been easy to find, but she'd wanted Ellie to find and rescue her sister who had been kidnapped by pirates and held for ransom somewhere in a star system miles from anywhere the Normandy needed to be. After telling Nassana she would do what she could, but making no promises, she went to visit Sha'ira, the Consort, who had a favour to ask. The asari needed help convincing one of her clients to stop spreading malicious lies about her, which had in turn resulted in a visit to a retired turian general named Septimus Oraka. Convincing him to stop spreading rumours about Sha'ira was easy enough; she simply gave him the 'man up, soldier' speech. This, however, had necessitated a visit to the elcor embassy, to explain to one of the elcor diplomats that it was Septimus, not Sha'ira, who had spread his secret around. Sha'ira had been grateful to see the situation resolved, offering credits and encouraging words to Ellie, with the implication that she might offer _more_, should words and credits not suffice. To which Ellie had quickly replied that the credits alone were more than sufficient, the encouraging words were simply a bonus, and then had left in a hurry with an extremely amused Kaidan and Garrus following behind.

A visit to Emily Wong had revealed that the reporter wanted Ellie to help her with another news article, something about how the Citadel's flight controllers were dangerously overworked. Ellie had suggested instead running a report on how the Citadel's Spectres were dangerously overworked, but Emily hadn't seemed too keen on the idea. Apparently, it was expected that Spectres should do dangerous things all the time, but people much preferred their docking controllers to be stress-free. Regardless, after telling Emily she'd look into the situation, she went to her last scheduled meeting of the day; Barla Von. Meeting the volus had been a pleasant surprise. He hadn't wanted anything of her, only to tell her that the Council had opened an account for her on the Citadel, and asked him to oversee her finances. Spectres, it seemed, _did_ get paid, and she was surprised, again, pleasantly, by the sum of credits that had already appeared in her account. Barla Von had assured her he'd look after her money well, and also advised that in the unfortunate event of her death, her money could, after a period of fives years in which it would gain interest at galactic standard rate, be donated to a charity of her choice. She had picked an Earth-based charity that helped orphans, in the hopes that some kid, somewhere, might be spared her own upbringing.

The chiming doorbell roused her from her reverie. Turning down the music she was listening to - simple relaxing guitar solos - she pressed the door entry button on her console, and smiled when Liara stepped inside the room, her bright blue eyes glancing around furtively before settling her gaze on Ellie.

"Hello, commander," the other woman said shyly. "I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

"Of course not. Please come in, Liara. I'm glad you're here."

"You are?"

"Yes, I was hoping to get a chance to speak with you." She gestured to the seat beside her desk, which Liara accepted and sat down on.

"What would you like to talk about?"

"I noticed earlier that you seemed a little... unhappy. Despressed, maybe. And I wanted to ask you if there was anything bothering you. I'm here to help in any way I can."

"I had not realised my melancholy mood had been noticed," Liara admitted. She did not seem pleased that somebody had guessed how she was feeling, but she continued anyway. "I must admit, I'm feeling a little... out of place. Everybody on your ship seems to know why they are there, and where they belong. I, on the other hand, feel like I'm just here on the off chance you might need me to translate something from the Prothean language along the way."

"Do you want to leave the Normandy?" she asked. Losing Liara's support would be a blow, particularly when it came to dealing with Matriarch Benezia, but she would not force the woman to stay against her will.

"No. But I do wish for a greater role."

"In what way?"

"Well... those who are accompanying you, such as Wrex and Garrus and Tali'Zorah, have all been on missions with you. All risked their lives to help you. I would like to do the same. I would like... to go on a mission with you."

"Alright," Ellie agreed. "Do you have any combat experience?"

"A little. Sometimes, on my dig sites, I would be attacked by pirates or privateers looking to steal Prothean artifacts. I am more than capable of defending myself with my biotic abilities. And I am a fast learner. I will not disappoint you, commander, I swear."

"I know you'll try your hardest. How are the crew treating you?"

"They are polite, but distant," Liara admitted. "I believe they do not know what to make of me, and that I do not yet have their trust."

"Give them some time. They'll come around eventually," Ellie assured her. "They just need to see that you're not a threat."

"Do _you_ trust me, commander?"

"Yes, I do."

"And yet, like your crew, you have no reason to do so."

"I suppose I consider myself a good judge of character."

"I will not let you down."

"That's good to know. I'm sorry, you came to see me for some reason, and I just entirely hijacked the conversation," she apologised. "What brings you here?"

"I was thinking about the Prothean beacon, and the visions it gave you. Ever since seeing that vision inside your mind, it has given me... bad dreams," Liara admitted. "I'm not used to dealing with such scenes of destruction. How do you do it? How do you close your eyes every night, and go to sleep?"

"With great difficulty," Ellie admitted. Even when she was awake, the visions were burnt into her mind, ready to reappear whenever she let her guard down, let herself relax. "I suppose I've just seen so many bad things, that the Reapers wiping out the Protheans is only marginally more horrifying."

"I suppose I've been sheltered," Liara said sadly, glancing down at the table.

Ellie, who considered herself quite a sympathetic soul, reached out to pat Liara's hand in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

"It can't be easy for you... all this this," she said, gesturing around at the ship. "You've spent 50 years doing quiet research, and now you're suddenly plunged into the middle of a galactic upheaval. We've dropped some pretty heavy bombshells on you... the Protheans, the Reapers... your mother."

"I think you're a little too good at reading me, commander," Liara said, with a small smile. "I wish I could give you some insight into why Benezia is working with Saren. I wish I could tell you what she's thinking, or what her motives are. But the Benezia I knew would never do anything like this, and her actions are an even bigger mystery to me than they are to you."

"What about your father? Couldn't he tell you anything about her?"

"I don't know who my other parent is." There was guilt, shame and anguish in Liara's voice when she continued. "My mother never told me anything about my 'father', other than the fact that she had picked another asari as her mate."

"You sound almost disappointed by that," she pointed out.

"For my species, mating with one of our own kind is considered... distasteful."

"What? Why?"

"When we choose a mate, we do not reproduce as other species do. Your kind, along with turians, batarians and elcor, practice sexual reproduction, whilst species such as the krogan and salarians practice egg fertilisation."

"I'm aware that the asari do things differently," Ellie said. She had already learnt about this during her former training, when she was being considered for the soldier-exchange programme with the Council races. "Asari reproduce by the 'mother' parent aligning their nervous system to that of the 'father' parent, and reading the genetic history of a species, using this genetic data to conceive a child that will look asari but will also possess certain genetic traits shared by the 'father' species. But I don't understand why taking another asari as a mate would be distasteful."

"When a child is conceived," Liara explained, "it gains the genetic predisposition of its father. If the father is asari, some believe that nothing new is gained, and that the life of the child is a wasted opportunity."

"That doesn't sound very open-minded. I can't believe your people would devalue a life like that."

"It is simply the way it has been since we first encountered other sentient species. I, as a... pure-blood... do not feel 'less' than other asari." A fleeting expression of sadness crossed Liara's face. "But I suppose the stigma of having a pure-blood child was enough to cause my 'father' parent to want nothing to do with me. Benezia's partner left before I was born, and Benezia raised me alone. Such things are not uncommon for asari - all other species, except the krogan, are very short-lived. Many asari grow up without fathers." Her tone became more hesitant as she continued. "I... read your file," she admitted. "I was curious about you. And I learnt that you grew up an orphan, without any parents at all."

"Yeah," Ellie sighed, reclining in her chair. No matter how much she tried to forget about her past, it always had a way of being brought up. "I grew up in an orphanage, joined a gang, ran away and joined the military."

"Do you never wonder about who your parents are, and why they left you?" Liara pressed.

"I used to, when I was younger." She smiled at the memory of her naïve self. "I used to dream that they were rich, important people, and that one day they'd come back for me, take me away from the difficult life of the orphanage and treat me like a princess. All little girls want to be princesses. In the end, though, I learnt that you can't wait for somebody to come along and rescue you, and make your life better. You have to do it yourself, because until you're willing to prove that you want change, nobody will even give you a chance."

"It sounds like you had a difficult time. Was it hard, making the transition from gang to military life?"

Ellie shrugged. "A bit. The hardest part was getting the others to accept me. They didn't trust me, because I'd been quite a successful thief. The other recruits would never leave any items lying around near me, never leave their computer consoles open in case I tried to hack them. That I never stole or hacked a terminal even once only increased their belief that I was just biding my time, waiting to strike. It's not a good way of living. If you're not careful, you start to believe the things that people say about you. You start to believe that you're not good enough, that you'll never be anything more than a thief, that you don't belong. I guess that's something we've both had to watch out for." Liara gave her a guilty smile, and she continued. "But in the end, military life isn't all that different to gang life. You're still following orders, told what to shoot at and when. The main difference is that you're fighting for the right things. You're fighting to make things better, to improve peoples' lives. Not to steal and sell drugs and make money."

"You are a good person, Commander Shepard," said Liara. "I get the feeling people don't tell you that enough."

"Thanks. You're a good person too, Liara, and worth a dozen other asari regardless of what species your father is."

"Well... I ah... thank you for your words, commander," Liara said, standing up and pushing the chair back under the desk. Her posture and mannerisms oozed self-consciousness. "I think I'll get back to the room you've given me. Good night, commander."

"Good night, Liara," she smiled.

As Liara left the room, she had to remind herself that figuratively speaking, the asari woman was only a child. Ellie had already lived almost a third of her natural life-span, whilst Liara had lived only a tenth of hers. In human terms, Liara would be only ten years old, so it was quite remarkable that for the past fifty years she'd been dedicating her life to studying the Protheans. Not many five year olds would have such passion for a subject other than finger-painting.

With Liara gone, she turned her attention back to her computer screen, to the reason she had originally logged onto the extranet. And as she studied the information about the life-form displayed on the screen, she had to admit the resemblance was uncanny. Possibly even too uncanny to be a coincidence. Could it perhaps be the work of the Protheans, or another race capable of interstellar travel?

The door bell chimed again, interrupting her study, and she pressed the door button on her console. This time it was Garrus who entered, looking only a little unsteady on his legs. He looked around the room for a moment as if expecting to find somebody else there, then stepped fully into the cabin, allowing the door to close behind him.

"Shepard," he said. "Can we talk?"

"That depends," she said, folding her arms across her chest. "Are you drunk?"

"No, I only had a couple of drinks. I met up with a friend but he had to leave early." He gave a disappointed huff, making the mandibles around his mouth flare briefly. "Has to be up early for work. A problem I no longer suffer."

"You didn't have to come back early," she pointed out. "You could have stayed out with the rest of the crew."

"Naw. Ashley was shooting daggers at me every time I glanced at her. I thought it would be safer back on the ship." He stopped and looked at her for a moment. "I haven't seen your hair like that before."

She subconsciously reached up to touch her hair, which she'd left loose around her shoulders after her shower. Military regulations didn't allow for long hair, unless it was securely tied up, and she preferred it long too much to get it cut short to meet military standards. Still, it was an odd, and apparently random, thing for Garrus to remark on.

"I sleep with it like this," she said.

"Oh, you were getting ready for bed? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have disturbed you. I'll leave you in peace."

"I wasn't getting ready for bed just yet," she replied, gesturing to the same chair Liara had only just vacated.

"Working on matters of galactic importance?" he asked, gesturing at the console as he sat down.

"Hardly." She turned the screen so that he could see what was on it, and he blinked in surprise.

"Is that a hanar?"

"No, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it was. It's a creature called a 'Portuguese Man o' War', which live in abundance in Earth's oceans. Although actually, they're not one creature, but a sort of colony of four different non-sentient species of polyps."

"Why are you looking at pictures of these things?"

"Remember that hanar we saw on the presidium today?" she asked, and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, that thing was a nightmare. Imagine, preaching on the presidium without purchasing an evangelical licence first," he said, in a disapproving tone.

"Uh, yeah, it was a total scandal. Anyway, that's the first hanar I've ever seen in person, and it immediately made me think of these Earth creatures. And that got me wondering... do we automatically search for the familiar in the unfamiliar, to try and understand it and rationalise our behaviour towards it?"

"Hmm, I dunno. Maybe. I suppose it's only natural, when you find yourself in a new, strange situation, to seek out the familiar because it feels safe. For example, when a new species discovers the Citadel, they tend to stick together a lot at first, be rather untrusting, and slow to make friends. Depending on the species, it can take days or years for them to feel comfortable and safe enough out here in space to stop clinging to the familiar and start embracing different things. I hear it took the Elcor decades to integrate into Citadel society, although their method of speech might have been a barrier at first."

"Do you think humans are integrating easily?"

"Some of them," he nodded. "For example, we're getting lots of humans in C-Sec these days. Your people make decent officers. But I think some of your people resist, either because they're afraid, or they don't like aliens, or they're just generally untrusting. Hey, do I remind you of any Earth animal?"

"What?" she asked, confused about the sudden change in topic.

"Well, if you're looking for the familiar in the unfamiliar... you've already done the hanar you saw earlier. Do me next."

"Alright," she tapped her bottom lip with her finger as she studied him for a moment. Though she had heard turians being likened to both lizards and birds, they were not the animal that came to mind. "You remind me of a cat."

"What are they?"

"Small predators that we keep as pets. They have fur, and they purr when you stroke them."

"I'm not small," he objected. "And I don't purr!"

"Some cats, the ones still living wild like lions and cheetahs, grow much larger and they hunt their prey and eat it alive. They're very dangerous. Does that sound better?"

"Hmph. I suppose so," he said, apparently mollified.

"Tell me something," she said. "When you were given the task of finding evidence to expose Saren as a traitor, did you come up with anything at all that might suggest _why_ he's allied with the geth and might be trying to bring the Reapers back?"

"Nothing. That's the thing I don't understand. Well, it's one of the many things I don't understand, but it's the one that worries me the most. I can understand why Saren would attack Eden Prime. He wanted the beacon and has no love for humans, so if a few died along the way it wouldn't be anything of a loss to him. But I can't understand why he would kill Nihlus, nor can I understand why he's working with the geth, and possibly trying to bring back the Reapers. If what your vision showed you is true, then the Reapers will likely wipe out all organic life in the galaxy, as they did with the Protheans. If it was just _human_ life, then you'd have his motive, but _all life_... it goes against everything a Spectre believes and fights for." He leant across the desk, fixing his gaze on her face. "You might have to bend or even break some of your military rules if you're going to stop him."

"I know." He seemed taken aback by her answer, so she continued. "Like I told you before, I'm not averted to bending or breaking the rules if it means stopping Saren. But I consider that a last resort. Things that are easy to do are probably not worth doing, and by doing things the hard way, you learn more."

"I just hope that the hard way doesn't cost more than you're willing to pay."

"I'll make my decisions one at a time," she assured him.

"Do you worry that if you make mistakes, it might reflect badly on your people?"

"No. But I worry it will reflect badly on people who have put their faith in me. People like Anderson, who has supported me from the beginning, and Nihlus, who was willing to work with me, to teach me to be a Spectre, and the entire crew of the Normandy, who even now follow my every command because they believe I'm doing the right thing. You look surprised by that," she said, noting his expression.

"Not exactly. Sometimes I just forget how similar our people are. What you said was a very... turian remark."

"It's the way our military works," she shrugged. "Anyway, did you want to talk about something in particular, or were you just stopping by for a chat?"

"Oh, yeah, the reason I came here. I just wanted to say... good job, with the mission on Agebinium. Your crazy plan to attack the pirates worked, and you saved Tali'Zorah's life. In your place... I probably would have let my desire for capturing Haliat override my desire to find Tali. I would probably have given up on her. She'd still be down there in that mine."

"Not a very turian remark," she pointed out.

"No. I suspect you'd make a better turian than I do. And it seems there's something I can learn from you after all, about patience and the pursuit of justice."

"So it would seem."

"Well, good night, Shepard. Let me know if you need an excellent marksman to pick off any more of your enemies."

"Goodnight, Garrus," she said, and watched him leave.

Finally alone again, she took a long sip of her whisky. She was no stranger to listening to peoples' personal problems. The fact that she was female, coupled with her intensive crash course in psychology, meant that a lot of soldiers felt more comfortable coming to her for advice than they did going to one of 'the guys', or even the military's dedicated counsellors. She just hadn't thought that she'd ever need to play counsellor to an asari three times her own age, or a turian with no patience for laws and rules. This, she was certain, was nothing Parsons had ever had to deal with. Then again, perhaps by the time she reached the rank of Admiral, if she ever did... Suddenly, thought flickered across her mind.

Admiral Hackett! Oh god, she had completely forgotten Anderson's message, that Hackett wanted to speak to her before she left the station. Feeling quite certain that the admiral wouldn't be pleased if she kept him waiting till morning, she opened up a secure comm channel on the Alliance military network.

"This is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy, please patch me through to Admiral Hackett of the Fifth Fleet. He's expecting my call."

There was silence, into which a voice spoke.

"Good evening, commander."

"I'm _so_ sorry, Admiral," she said immediately. "I've had so much to do here on the Citadel that I completely forgot that you needed to speak to me. Please forgive the late hour."

"Relax, commander, it's no problem. You're still on the Citadel, I take it?"

"Aye, sir. We plan to depart in the morning."

"Good. I have a mission for you. I know that as a Spectre you technically answer to the Council, but this is important. I wouldn't be asking otherwise. It will require not only your technical expertise, but also your discretion."

"I'm listening," she said cautiously. Whatever the admiral wanted, it couldn't be good.

"As you are aware, we have a training facility on Luna."

"Yes, sir. I did my basic training there. I remember it well."

"I'm glad you do, because you're going to need your memory of the layout of the base on this one. Luna base relies heavily on a VI program to process tactical information and present new scenarios to trainees. No human operator can work at the speed and efficiency required to run these simulations."

"May I speak freely, sir?" she asked.

"Of course."

"It sounds like you're apologising. Or attempting to excuse or explain whatever's causing you enough distress that you have to send _me_ to deal with it."

Hackett sighed, and Ellie realised just how late it really was, back at Arcturus. "Commander, two days ago we lost contact with Luna base. When we brought up surveillance footage, it showed us something that nobody could have foreseen. The Luna VI has gone rogue, killing all base personnel and the soldiers who were undertaking training there."

_That_ got her attention, and she sat up in her chair, hoping she had heard wrong. "It's gone rogue, sir? Has it developed self-awareness?"

"No. Nothing like that. It's just a VI, commander, it doesn't have the ability for independent thought. For all we know it's been sabotaged, though how such sabotage could have been carried out is anybody's guess. Surveillance footage shows nothing out of the ordinary. We've tried to disable the VI remotely, but it was purposely designed without network access. We're not stupid, Shepard. We know that VIs can break down. The only network in Luna base is the surveillance system, and it's not possible for the VI to subvert that to its own control. This is why we need you, Shepard. You're not just a Spectre, you're a damn fine engineer. And I know that you've had... training... beyond that which we provide to our own engineers. You know to what I refer, I presume?"

"Sir," she said hesitantly, not at all comfortable with discussing her past with a high-ranking military official, "I admit I've done some questionable things before joining the military. I've hacked a mech or two in my time, made some... minor changes... to their programming. But the Luna VI is an incredibly complex piece of software, _far_ beyond my expertise. I doubt that there's any way I can hack and reprogram it."

"We don't need it reprogrammed, Shepard, we need it destroyed. Somebody needs to get in there and manually disable the VI housing conduits. Unfortunately, the conduits are guarded by a combination of assault and rocket drones under direct control of the VI. And they've been upgraded since the last time you were on Luna. I _could_ send a team of marines in, but I'd prefer to send somebody who is an expert in... questionable things."

"I understand, sir," she said. "I'll make Luna my top priority."

"Good. There's one other thing about the mission you should be aware of."

"Yes, sir?"

"I know that you have an... unconventional crew compliment aboard the Normandy. As far as I'm concerned you can pick whatever crew you like for your mission against Saren, as long as they're competent and trustworthy. Luna base's commander, however, does not share my views. He has asked that in light of the severity of this mission, and the nature of the threat, you do not allow aliens into Luna base. I have to reluctantly agree. If word got back to the Council that we'd lost control of one of our VIs... Commander, our technology, including our VIs, is what gives us an edge in combat. We can't match the turian military for size, or the asari and salarian militaries for specialisation. Upon hearing that one of our VIs has gone rogue, the Council might impose restrictions upon our use of VIs in warfare and combat situations. I don't have to tell you how much of a blow that would be to us."

"I understand implicitly, sir," she assured him. "I will handle this mission personally, and with the discretion you require. And I'll have a team of marines to back me up, just in case."

"Thank you, commander. And I'm sorry to have to impose an additional burden upon you, but there are two Alliance diplomats aboard the Citadal, one from Russia and one from China. They were asked to visit by the heads of their respective nations, to evaluate Ambassador Udina's performance in representing humans on the Citadel. They're ready to return home, so I'd like you to bring them back to Earth."

"I _thought_ Udina was in a particularly bad mood earlier!" she said, as light was shed upon the situation.

"A rare thing indeed," Hackett said wryly. "I'll instruct the diplomats to be ready to leave when you are, commander. They've been given full security clearance to travel aboard the Normandy, and whilst I'd _prefer_ that they not go poking around the ship's systems, they're authorised to observe. Please drop them off on Earth before going to Luna."

"Yes, Admiral. We'll be back home tomorrow."

"Thank you. Hackett out."

When the line went dead, Ellie let out a long, slow breath, and leant back in her chair, letting it take her full weight. A rogue VI. The only thing worse, in her estimation, was a rogue AI. Technology that no longer responded to the commands of its creators was bad news - the geth had already proven that to the galaxy three-hundred years ago. Technology which not only stopped responding to commands but also turned against its creators and killed them was even worse. The mission on Luna, she knew, was not going to be easy. But before she could even think about surviving Luna, she first had to survive something most soldiers avoided like the plague; diplomats.

o - o - o - o - o

"I'm sorry to be such an inconvenience to you, commander," said Tali'Zorah, for the third time that morning. Ellie had gone down to the med clinic to personally escort her back to the ship, and they were currently sitting in the treatment room, waiting for Doctor Michel to officially discharge her patient.

"You're no inconvenience at all, Tali. Like I told you before, I couldn't have disarmed that warhead without you." So far, she hadn't had the heart to tell her that in all probability, the nucelar warhead had already been removed from the probe. There hadn't been time to recover the probe before leaving Agebinium, and now it was more than likely sitting in the bottom of a flooded mine, where it would never cause problems again.

"But I'm causing you to be delayed in your mission," Tali objected.

"You're not. I needed to take on some additional supplies, and to get new orders from my superior officers. Plus we have to take on a couple of civilians, transport them back to Earth. If anybody's delaying me, it's the diplomats, not you."

The treatment room door opened, and Doctor Michel entered with a smile on her face. Both Tali and Ellie stood up right away, eager to be off the moment the doctor gave the word.

"I'm pleased to say you've made a full recovery, Tali'Zorah," Dr Michel said.

"Thank you very much for all of your care," Tali said to her. "I do not know of anybody else... other than Commander Shepard, perhaps, who would treat a quarian so kindly. As I am on my pilgrimage, I do not have any credits to pay you, but once I have returned to the Flotilla I will ensure you are given adequate compensation for having to care for me."

"That is not necessary," Michel assured her. "I like to heal people. Seeing people walk out of my clinic healthy and happy is payment enough for me."

"Regardless," Ellie said, "I appreciate everything you've done for Tali. If there's ever anything you require, just let me know."

"Just take care of yourselves out there."

"We will."

With Dr Michel's blessing, Ellie led Tali out of the med clinic and they made their way towards C-Sec. Around them, the citizens of the Citadel went about their daily lives. Asari, salarians, turians, hanar, humans, elcor, volus... they represented only half of the known species of sentient races in the galaxy, and yet here, they were the most numerous. For the most part, the citizens seemed to get along well with each other. Shop keepers of all species had clients of all species. C-sec officers seemed to be mostly turian or human, but there were occasional asari or salarians amongst them. In one area of the Presidium a hanar was telling two elcor about the glory of the Enkindlers - the hanar name for the Protheans - whilst further along the promenade, two volus were advising a turian and a human about financial matters. Everything here was a picture of peace and civility.

"You've gone very quiet, Shepard," Tali said.

Glancing at her, Ellie saw the quarian watching her, her eyes just about visible through the purple mask of her protective suit. The suit had saved Tali's life; when the young woman had been trapped beneath the rocks, her suit had been pierced, exposed to the harsh atmosphere inside the cave. An emergency seal had kicked in, preventing the air from reaching Tali's lungs. Without the suit, she would be dead, but at the same time, it seemed to Ellie that the suit was as much a prison as anything else.

"Is it difficult, living inside your environmental suit?" she asked.

"You might find it difficult, but I've never lived any other way, so I cannot compare. I must admit, though... I am often envious of non-quarians. To be able to breath fresh, unfiltered air... to be able to feel a cool breeze on your skin... to be able to reach out and touch somebody, and truly _feel_ them, and not just feel the suit... sometimes I think I would gladly suffer a terrible illness, if it means being able to do those things. But I know that if I did them, they would be the last things I ever did. You don't know how lucky you are, Shepard. I can never do the things you take for granted."

"Maybe one day, when the quarians have reclaimed their homeworld, you'll be able to do those things."

"Maybe," Tali sighed.

Ellie didn't offer any more words as they walked through C-Sec to the elevator which led to the docking bays. What _could_ she say? No vague platitude would have made Tali feel better, and it wasn't as if she could swear to help her reclaim Rannoch or die trying. She had enough to worry about already, with rogue VIs, AIs, Saren and diplomats. There was only so much one Spectre could handle, and right now, she had her orders.

The elevator played dull, monotonous music, and when it finally stopped at dock 422, Ellie stepped out, followed by Tali. She was met not only by the sight of her ship, and by three people standing outside the airlock talking in loud voices. At least, two of them were talking in loud voices, whilst Pressly was looking patiently harassed. As soon as he saw her, relief flooded his face.

"Commander Shepard," he said, saluting her. The two civilians standing in front of him immediately turned to face her. The woman was small, with straight black hair, olive-coloured skin and almond shaped brown eyes, and she wore a purple and white dress with high-heeled shoes. Even with the shoes, she was still a good two inches shorter than Ellie, who wasn't the tallest of women. The man, however, was the woman's opposite; tall, with dark grey hair and a thick grey moustache, his blue eyes were cold and piercing, and he wore a grey suit that was the same colour as his hair.

"Is there a problem, Pressly?"

"No problem at all, ma'am. I was just explaining to our guests that because their belongings have already been put into storage in the cargo-hold, we can't go opening the hold up again now that we're ready to leave."

"But I have important equipment inside my bag that I require for the journey!" the woman said angrily.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Li, but we also can't allow unauthorised photographic equipment to be used on the Normandy, for security reasons," said Pressly, and clearly not for the first time.

"I promised my son a photograph of the Normandy! He loves ships, and has a huge collection of pictures of Alliance vessels."

Ellie decided it was time to put her extremely rusty diplomatic skills to the test.

"I will arrange for a picture of the Normandy to be sent to you once we return to Earth, Mrs... Li, was it? And it will be personally autographed by humanity's first Spectre, if that helps."

"I... yes," Li said, hesitant at first, but quickly realising a picture of the Normandy autographed by its commander, who also happened to be a Spectre, would be worth a lot more to a small child than just a picture alone. She drew herself up a little, gaining an extra inch of height. "Thank you, commander. I would appreciate that." She extended her hand. "Mai Li. Secretary to the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs."

"Pleased to meet you, Mrs Li," Ellie replied, shaking her hand.

"Commander," the man said with in a Russian accent, stepping forward and offering his hand too. "Alexander Ivanov. Deputy Vice-Chairman of Rosenkov Materials."

"Welcome to the Normandy, Mr Ivanov," she said, returning his gesture.

"I'm looking forward to a personal tour of your ship, commander," he continued, as if it wasn't even a point of debate. When Pressly opened his mouth to object, Ivanov steamrolled over him. "I've been anticipating it since Ambassador Udina informed us the Normandy would be taking up back to Earth. I am interested in seeing this new design you have. I too was a soldier in the military, when I was younger."

"Did you see much action?"

"I was attached to one of the ships of the Second Fleet sent to liberate Shanxi. Of course, I was barely more than a recruit at the time, only a month out of basic training, but the war required as many able-bodied soldiers as possible to step up and fight for humanity. After a few years, I decided to marry and settle down, so left the military. But I did not leave behind my desire to protect humanity from enemy forces at work in the galaxy. That is why it gives me great pride to be working for Rosenkov Materials, the greatest manufacturer of weapons and armour on Earth."

"I'm glad to see such passion for helping keep our soldiers safe," she replied, and then turned to Pressly. "Navigator Pressly, please go and prep the ship. I want to be aweigh as soon as flight clears us for departure. In the mean time, I will show Mrs Li and Mr Ivanov some of the Normandy's features."

"Aye, ma'am," Pressly said, with another saluted. He returned to the ship with a brisker pace than normal, no doubt glad to be away from the diplomats.

"Commander, I saw your interviews, with Emily Wong and Kalisah Al-Jilani," said Li, once Pressly had disappeared. "Is it true that the turians helped to design and build the Normandy?"

"That's right," she replied, and gestured to the ship magnetically anchored at the dock. "As you can see from the external design, it incorporates aspects of both human and turian engineering. The interior design and certain aspects of the hardware, were also co-created. It gives the Normandy a unique look; she's not quite an Alliance-looking vessel, and not quite a Hierarchy-looking vessel. She does tend to draw a crowd wherever she goes... though admittedly, not as big a crowd as the Destiny Ascension gets," she said wryly, with only a hint of good-natured jealousy.

"What do you believe the next joint-project will be, commander?" asked Ivanov. "If the Normandy design proves viable, will we begin large-scale production of Normandy-class frigates, or will we look at perhaps co-designing a destroyer or dreadnought with the turians?"

"I honestly don't know. Alliance command haven't made me privy to their long-term plans." She gestured to the ship again, walking part-way down its length, and the two diplomats followed her. "The Normandy cost a lot to make, in terms of time and credits. But now we know what we're doing, making more like her will be cheaper and more efficient, because we won't have the same learning curve. Creating something bigger, such as a destroyer or dreadnought, on the other hand, will require us to completely start from scratch. I'm no ship designer by any means, but I do know that you can't just take the plans for one ship and apply it to another of differing size or power requirements. The Tantalus drive core, for example, will only work on the Normandy. Destroyers and dreadnoughts, being larger, will require a completely different drive. They'll either have to extensively overhaul the Tantalus design, or start with something new."

"Do you really think it is wise for us to allow the turians to work with us on such projects?" Li asked. "It gives them an insight into our flight capabilities and military strength. For all we know, the average turian citizen knows more about the Normandy's propulsion, weapons and defences than even the highest of admirals in the Alliance fleet."

"The turians are our allies, Mrs Li," Ellie said firmly. "We could not have developed the Normandy without their input, or without the funding from the Council. Remember, the Citadel races have been out here a lot longer than we have. If we don't make friends, we're only going to make enemies, and the last thing we need right now is more enemies."

"I'm interested in seeing your command information centre," said Ivanov.

"Of course. Right this way, please," she said, and led both of the visitors to the Normandy's airlock. Once inside they were subject to bio-screening and a brief decontamination period designed to prevent foreign and dangerous organisms from finding a foothold on the ship and potentially wreaking environmental havoc in the delicate ecosystems of alien planets. Once they had passed through decon, the first place normally visible was suspiciously less visible. The door to the cockpit had been closed. No doubt Pressly had warned Joker about the impending diplomats, and the pilot had seen fit to isolate himself from politics. Which was probably for the best, as Joker had a tendency to speak his mind no matter the company. He was respectful to his military superiors out of necessity, and people he liked out of choice. He probably wasn't the best person to introduce to nosy civilians.

"This is the entrance area to the ship," she explained, and indicated the door. "Behind here, our pilot works diligently at the helm. During docking and aweigh procedures, he likes to isolate himself from any background noise, to help his concentration when navigating the streams of incoming and outgoing vessels, and to better hear the commands from flight control." She was pleased with her bullshitting; it sounded suitably professional, and neither of the diplomats questioned it, so she led them into the main CIC.

"Here," she said, "is where our command technicians and bridge crew spend most of their time, analysing sensor data, running simulations, and manning the offensive and defensive systems. Normandy's GARDIAN and kinetic barrier defences are pretty much as standard, and they didn't have to be adapted to fit the ship, as she's only the same size as other Alliance frigates. The mass accelerator cannon's been tweaked for the Normandy to allow better performance for her size and speed, and the Javelin torpedo system she's installed with is still being rolled out, with only the newest of warships being built with them as standard."

"The layout of this area is very different to any other ship I have served on before," Ivanov said, looking around at the command position in relation to the work-stations."

"It's a turian design," she explained. "They like their commanders to be looking down on their crew whilst in battle, to help give them an overall view of what's happening."

"And how are you finding that design feature so far?"

"Well, the Normandy hasn't really been in any space battles yet," she admitted. "Most of the action we've seen has been ground-side. I can see the advantages of being able to over-see everything happening around you, but it does leave one feeling a little... distant."

"So you will be recommending that the Alliance revert to standard CIC and bridge layouts for future ships of similar design?"

"Not necessarily. Like I said, I haven't been in a space-combat situation yet. And even when I _do_ have that experience, I've never commanded a ship before. I think somebody who is already familiar with Alliance bridge-layout would need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the turian bridge-layout, to give a better idea of whether it's a feasible adaptation to make."

"Commander," said Joker, his voice appearing over the comm, "flight have confirmed we're cleared for departure."

"Thank you. Please set course for Sol," she told him.

"Is it true that the Normandy is faster than other ships, commander?" Li asked.

"She's one of the fastest ships in the fleet. Not only is her drive larger and more efficient for her size, but she's also capable of running in FTL for longer, due to the way she stores thermal emissions. We'll have you back to your son in no time. Now, what would you like to see next? The medical bay, the science lab, engineering-"

"Engineering," Ivanov said immediately. "After hearing of this miraculous drive core, I would like to see it for myself."

"Very well. Please follow me."

She left the bridge - with Pressly giving her a wan smile as she passed him - and led the visitors through one of the side doors and down the flight of stairs leading to the second deck. One of the marines passing the opposite way saluted her, and she nodded at him in return. When they reached the living area of the ship, she decided on a brief overview before taking the diplomats down to engineering.

"This," she said, indicating the tables and chairs, "is the crew mess. Behind it you can see the sleeper pods, where most of our crew retire. Because space is at a premium on the Normandy, the only real bedroom belongs to the CO, and it doubles as both a place to sleep and a private office. The XO has a bedroom, but it's even smaller. The crew use the sleeper pods and operate on a rota system, but so far we've spent more time travelling in FTL or drifting at sub-light than we have in combat or planet-side on missions. We're trying to ease the Normandy into her first few months of life... don't want to burn out the Alliance's first stealth-reconnaissance vessel," she joked. "Anyway, here is the elevator, which will take us to engineering."

They all stepped into the elevator, the door closing silently behind them. Once they were away from the ears of other crew-members, Ivanov turned to face her.

"What is your opinion of the Council, commander?" he asked.

"I'm sorry? I don't understand the question," she replied. In reality she _did_ understand the question, she just didn't understand Ivanov's reason for bringing it up. She'd barely had any dealings with the Council at all. Surely Udina would have been a better person to ask?

"The members of the Council. What do you think of them?" he reiterated.

"I have no opinion of the Council, Mr Ivanov," she told him honestly. "I'm a soldier, not a politician. I just do my job to the best of my abilities."

"But you have spoken to the Council, have you not? Seen them in action? They did not make you a Spectre for nothing."

"I've spent, at most, a half hour in the company of the Council, Mr Ivanov. For most of that time I was just a spectator, and they were not addressing me directly. They inducted me into the Spectres because they saw the necessity of hunting down Saren, and knew that they had to throw Ambassador Udina _some_ sort of bone, after refusing to step in and help in the Terminus Systems."

"Do you still serve humanity, Commander Shepard?" Li asked, her dark eyes intense. "Surely you must feel your loyalties... torn, between the Alliance and the Council. One horse cannot bear two riders for very long."

"Mrs Li," Ellie said, turning to face the diminutive woman, "I have, and always will be, an Alliance soldier and an N7 marine. If you had asked me two weeks ago if I served humanity, then I would not have hesitated in saying yes, I do serve humanity. Now, having seen the things that I have seen, I would say that I do not serve humanity. I serve the innocent, and those who deserve to be protected, regardless of their species. Would I kill a human murderer to save ten asari innocents? Yes, without hesitation. I have always had a care of duty for protecting and defending those who cannot defend themselves. Becoming a Spectre had not changed that, it simply means that now I am playing on a larger game board. My loyalties, first and foremost, lie with humanity, and with the Alliance I have served for almost a decade. But now I have the authority, and the ability, to act on behalf of others as well. If the Alliance brass did not want me to take this stance, then they should not have pushed so hard for me to join the Spectres. I make no apologies for my views."

The door of the elevator opened, and Ellie stepped out before either of the diplomats could respond to her outburst. She was fairly sure that she had just, in some small way, lost her temper in front of two VIPs, but she couldn't help it. She was sick to death of politicians and diplomats and news reporters who all wanted her to jump through hoops, who all wanted to use her for their own purposes. If they had seen what she had seen, if they had seen the visions of the Protheans being wiped out by Reapers, they would be hiding under their beds _begging_ for her to save them. But no. Udina had asked that the matter of the Reapers not be mentioned in any interviews, and because the military had backed up his request, she had no choice but to refrain from speaking about them on public broadcasts. It was aggravating, because she knew that her own crew believed her. They had been present for Eden Prime. They had seen the geth ship - the Reaper - leaving the surface of the planet with Saren onboard. They had heard about her visions from Anderson and Kaidan and Williams. They _believed_. But nobody else even knew.

She did not get a chance to direct the diplomats down to the engineering deck. Wrex approached, looking to be in his usual good mood, and both Li and Ivanov took a step back.

"Shepard," said Wrex. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"The food. At first it was great, but I've been eating the same rehydrated chicken and gravy stuff for a week now. Can't your people get a bit of variety?"

"I'll ask the cook to look into it when we reach Earth," she told him. If all that would keep Wrex happy was a slight change in meals, it was something she was more than willing to consider. "Anything else.?"

"Yeah." He turned his large red eyes to the diplomats, watching them warily, sizing them up. "But it's something I want to talk to you about alone. So maybe later."

"Sure. Come and see me when we're finished in Sol."

"You there," Ivanov said, and Ellie turned around to find he'd wandered off towards the Mako. His words were aimed at Garrus, who standing beside the Mako's console. "What are you doing at that computer."

"Running diagnostics on the Mako," Garrus explained with a casual air of indifference. "We took a stray bullet or two on the last mission. Nothing serious, but now that it's been fixed I'm making sure it's all air-tight. Don't wanna vent atmosphere the next time we're dropped from the Normandy."

"Mr Ivanov," Ellie said, before the diplomat could ask any further questions, "the engine room is just through here."

Ivanov reluctantly left Garrus alone, and followed Ellie towards the engineering door. At the far side of the room, Williams, who was busy maintaining the stock of personal weapons, gave her a look of deep sympathy.

"I didn't know you employed krogan mercenaries on your ship, commander," said Li, as they walked down the corridor towards the engineering bay.

"Wrex is a krogan battlemaster, with a thousand years experience of surviving," she explained. "I thought his assistance would be useful on the current mission."

"And the reason you're giving a turian access to sensitive tactical data?" Ivanov asked.

Ellie stopped mid-stride, and turned to face both of the diplomats. "Mr Ivanov, Mrs Li," she said, "I don't have to answer to either of you. You're not my superior officers, and the construction of this ship was not funded by you. I command this vessel, and I command it as I see fit, including how I arrange the crew compliment. If the Alliance military has a problem with how I am running things, they will tell me, but until then I will continue to command as I deem necessary. But if you must know, Garrus is a former C-Sec officer who wants to help stop Saren from attacking any more colonies. _All_ of my crew members have my trust, otherwise they would not be here. If you have a problem with a krogan being here, or a turian or asari or quarian, I can put you into sleeper pods for the duration of the journey so that you don't have to be offended."

"You have a quarian aboard?" Li asked, sounding scandalised by the very idea. "I heard on the Citadel that quarians are little more than opportunistic thieves."

"Mrs Li, if you listen closely enough, you'll hear _anything_ on the Citadel. Such as humans are power-hungry fanatics determined to spread their influence as far as possible."

"That's preposterous!" said Ivanov.

"Yes. It is."

She continued on her way, leaving the diplomats with the choice of either following her or standing watching her leave. When she reached the door to engineering, they were both right behind her, and she stepped into the room. Tali was talking with one of the junior engineers in one corner of the room, and Adams looked up at her approach. He gave her a salute, his eyes not even flickering to the two civilians following her.

"Commander Shepard. I hear we're heading back to Sol," he said.

"That's right. How's the drive core doing?"

"Still flawless," he grinned. "Of course, it will take a lot more than what we've been doing to fully put her to the test. Not that I'm eager to go into combat, but it would provide a more accurate reflection of how she'll handle herself."

"I'll see what I can do, but no promises. I'd like to keep the Normandy in one piece." She turned and gestured to the civilians. "This is Mrs Li, Secretary to the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mr Ivanov, Deputy Vice-Chairman of Rosenkov Materials."

"Pleased to meet you both," Adams said, shaking both of their hands. "The Normandy is a fine ship, and civilians aren't normally allowed aboard. I bet there's a hundred people back on Earth who would give anything to be in your shoes right now. You're quite privileged."

"Commander," said Ivanov, "thank you very much for the tour. I have seen everything I had hoped to see. Is there perhaps somewhere we might sit down and talk?"

"Yes, we can sit in my quarters. The mess will probably be a little too noisy for your liking. Keep up the good work, Adams."

"Aye, ma'am."

"Right this way," she said to the diplomats, and led them back towards the elevator.

o - o - o - o - o

The captain's quarters, in the best of circumstances, were snug. Now that they contained Ellie, the two diplomats and the ship's cook, who had brought up tea and coffee for the guests, there wasn't enough room to swing a cat. Both of the diplomats were seated in the large, comfortable chairs, whilst Ellie had pulled up her desk chair for herself. When the cook finished transferring the pots of hot liquid to the table, Ellie thanked him and he left. There was no conversation as the diplomats poured tea and coffee for themselves, but as soon as they were settled with their drinks, that changed quickly.

"Commander," said Li, "as you might have guessed, we weren't sent to the Citadel for a simple diplomatic mission."

"I'd surmised that much," she confirmed.

"We were sent because Ambassador Udina's tenure is almost up, and there has been talk of replacing him. Because the Citadel is very far away from Earth, it was decided that a direct assessment of his term as ambassador was required. We were sent to review his performance to date. Once we reach Earth, we will be making our recommendation to Parliament."

"Am I allowed to ask what that recommendation will be?"

Li gave her a smile, and Ivanov answered instead.

"We are still undecided. In some ways, Udina has done much for humanity, and to further out goals out here in space. He has successfully bartered for greater trading rights, and increased awareness of our species, and our capabilities, with the Council. He's also been instrumental in advancing our agenda by having you inducted into the Spectres. But he has had his failures, too. Not many, but enough of them that we need to take them into consideration when making our recommendation. Before we decide, however, we would like to hear _your_ opinion on his performance."

"I'm just a soldier, Mr Ivanov," she told him, feeling uneasy about being asked to talk about a man behind his back. "I try to stay out of politics."

"That may be so, but none of us truly have the luxury of controlling our fates. Despite your intentions, you are famous not only for surviving Akuze, but for being humanity's first Spectre. You cannot avoid the political ramifications of that."

"You can speak freely, commander," said Li. "We won't repeat your words to anyone. We will simply consider your opinion."

"Perhaps you should ask Captain Anderson," she said. "He's known the Ambassador longer, and no doubt has sounder political judgement than I do."

"_Too_ sound, I believe," said Ivanov. "We already asked Captain Anderson for his opinion, but he refused to give one, saying that he supports whatever measures Udina feels are necessary. He has been in the military far longer than you, commander, and has become blinded by obedience."

"What you might call obedience, I would call discretion."

"So you agree," said Li, "that Ambassador Udina has done a good job, and that he should be retained in his position?"

"I believe that Udina has done the best job he could, under the circumstances. Maybe somebody else could have done a better job, maybe not, but I can't comment on that, because I have the advantage of hindsight. Though I may not agree with his methods, at least the Council are familiar with him, and he with them."

"Specifically what aspect of his methods do you not agree with?" Ivanov asked innocently.

"Well," she replied reluctantly, feeling like she had just been cleverly manoeuvred into answering, "from what I have observed, Ambassador Udina tries to get his way by shouting, and hoping that if he makes enough noise, the Council will capitulate just to keep him quiet."

"You think that is counter-productive."

"I don't know. But I don't shout. I've noticed that more often than not, the louder you shout, the more people will cover their ears and try to block you out. And those who would outright ignore a shout, will strain to hear a whisper."

"Interesting, coming from a soldier," said Li. "Do you believe, then, that we should take a different approach with the Council?"

Ellie sighed. Why couldn't people just leave her alone and let her get on with her job? She wasn't a celebrity or a hero, she was just a soldier, trying to do her best in a difficult situation. She didn't _need_ the attention, and people seeking out her opinion, and trying to use her for their own purposes. So far, she was the biggest feather in Udina's cap. Humanity had been pushing for a Spectre for years, and Udina was the one who had made it happen. Or so it would be remembered. Now, Udina's opponents were trying to use her to bring him down.

_Such a plain, black and white view,_ she could almost hear the voice of Doctor Kay saying. _You're smarter than that, Shepard. If they want to use you, then play their game and get them on your side. Look at the bigger picture. If you're not able to stop Saren and Benezia from bringing back the Reapers, then as many people as possible are going to need to know about them. You're sitting with a secretary to one of the largest human states on Earth, and somebody in a position of control of a large weapons and armour manufacturing company. Use that to your advantage._

"To be honest," she said to the diplomats, "I'm not sure we're taking the right stance at all with the Council. In my opinion, too many people are pushing for more power and influence. It's not winning us any friends out here. Why should we act like we have something to prove? We don't have anything to prove to anyone. I think we should just get on with our own affairs and stop wasting so much time trying to get Council approval."

"Are you saying we should cut off ties with them, try to go it alone?" Li asked.

"No, of course not. We need our embassy on the Citadel, and we need the Council races, for trade. But I think we should stop pushing for more power, focus our efforts more on expansion and defence of our colonies, and let the other races judge us in their own time."

"You make some interesting arguments, commander," Ivanov admitted. "But without a greater say with the Council, we aren't able to produce enough dreadnoughts to make permanent defence of our colonies a viable option. Had we the rights to make as many as the asari or turians, we could have a dreadnought in orbit over every human colony. Then perhaps Eden Prime would have ended differently."

"It's a catch-22 situation," she admitted. Then she decided it was time to drop her bombshell. "There's something you need to know. Something Ambassador Udina hasn't told you because he doesn't believe it's true. And neither do the Council. But I know that I'm right, and if I'm not able to stop Saren, people need to be warned about the danger they're in."

By this point, both diplomats were leaning forward in their chairs, clearly eager to hear what she had to say.

"On Eden Prime, I encountered a Prothean beacon, which put into my mind an image of the Protheans being wiped out by a race of sentient machines called the Reapers. The geth revere them as gods, and for some reason, Saren is trying to bring them back from wherever they went to after they destroyed the Protheans."

"That is difficult to believe," said Li. "We have heard no other mention of these Reapers before, and I do not recall you mentioning them in either of your interviews."

"I was asked not to mention them," she said. "But I can't stay silent about them any longer. If the Reapers return, it's not just humanity that's in trouble, but the entire galaxy."

"You believe they might come back?"

"If I don't stop Saren, it's possible. But I just thought you should know about them. Just in case anything happens to me. At least there will be somebody to spread the message, and prepare for the worst."

"If these Reapers you speak of did indeed wipe out the Protheans," said Ivanov, "then what hope would we have?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "But surely some hope is better than no hope."

"We will... consider... your words, commander," said Li. Ellie felt her heart sink. They didn't believe her. They had the same look on their faces as the Council, when she'd told them about the Reapers too. Even the ship seen in the emergency transmission from Eden Prime had been dismissed as some sort of geth prototype dreadnought, though nobody had _quite_ been able to explain how a dreadnought was able to both land and take off from a planet. Such a thing was a physical impossibility, even for the geth.

"There is one other thing I would like to discuss with you, commander," said Ivanov. "I believe that the military's tender for arms and armour is soon due for renewal. As you know, Rosenkov Materials makes the best quality equipment in the Alliance, and we are dedicated to the safety of our soldiers. My company would like to provide you with the latest in our line of personal armour, to... trial in combat situations. And if you find that the armour is of a high standard... well, I'm sure your superiors would take the advice of a Spectre into consideration."

Ellie sighed. Here she was, trying to save the galaxy from imminent destruction, and everybody else was too busy being concerned about their own political agendas and making money to take any notice. The sacrifices made by herself and her crew were largely unnoticed and barely appreciated. Sometimes, life just wasn't fair.


	21. Intelligence

Deus Ex Machina

_21. Intelligence_

As the Mako zipped along the surface of the moon, Kaidan rechecked his pistol. It was an unfortunate habit he had developed during times when he was nervous, and today he had every reason to be nervous. Ellie had briefed him, along with Williams, on the nature of the mission, and he had strong misgivings about it. From what Hackett had said, it seemed the Luna VI hadn't just gone rogue, it had killed every member on the base too. The only reason he could think of for a VI to do that, was a reprogramming of its ally-enemy command recognition sequence. It would take somebody with exceptional skills to hack and reprogram a VI in such a way. He knew that Ellie had done it before, but only on individual mechs, never on something the scale of the Luna VI. It would take a computer genius to enact such a plan... but it was the only possibility he was willing to consider. The _other_ possibility, that the Luna VI had somehow managed to evolve synthetically into an AI, was too disturbing to even entertain.

Though it had been some thirteen years since he had trained at the Luna base, he could still remember his time there well. The base consisted of three bunkers, each with separate challenges for soldiers to overcome. Various scenarios were acted out within the bunkers, with soldiers being pitted against the VI-controlled drones. It couldn't compensate for actual combat experience, of course, and it couldn't teach combat against an organic foe, but it was a good way to teach new soldiers how to overcome standard synthetic opponents and to learn to work together to achieve a goal.

"I can't believe you turned down a chance to get new Rosenkov armour, commander," Williams said. She was sitting at the mass effect cannon, whilst Ellie was, as usual, driving the Mako. It was where she preferred to be; in the driving seat. In control. Doing things herself. She wasn't so good in situations - such as Edolus - where she had no control. When she lost the ability to control a situation, she tended to go to pieces. Of course, she would vehemently deny her weakness, her one flaw, if he ever tried to point it out to her, so he didn't even bother trying. She was a good CO, and a good friend, and that was all that mattered.

"Alliance officers do not take bribes, chief," Ellie said, not moving her gaze from the HUD.

"But it's not really a _bribe_, per se, is it? I mean, if you're just accepting the equipment on loan, to test it out and make a recommendation based upon your assessments..?"

"A bribe's a bribe, Williams. The military already have a dedicated testing lab, which is capable of perfectly simulating a variety of environmental and combat conditions. They don't need _me_ to tell them what's best for our soldiers; they have good, solid evidence as proof. If Rosenkov Materials really _do_ make superior equipment, then the tests alone will speak for themselves."

"But there's nothing to say you _have_ to recommend their stuff, even if you trial it, right?"

"It's principle, chief," Kaidan explained. "Once word gets out that you'll even consider taking a bribe, everything you do for the rest of your life is tarnished by that. People will always doubt that you're acting in their best interests, and you'll be swarmed by people who think they can use you for their own ends."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ash acceded. Her face was lit up in the dim interior of the Mako by the orange and blue cannon console, and there was a dreamy look in her eyes. "Still, Rosenkov armour... I'd give my left arm for that. Maybe my right arm, too. Do you really think there's a chance of the military taking out a contract with those guys?"

"Probably not," Ellie said. "They're far too expensive to kit out every single soldier."

"That's a shame."

"We've lived without Rosenkov armour up until now, and we'll continue to do so in future."

They fell to silence as the vehicle steadily ate up the kilometres. Ellie hadn't want to bring the Normandy anywhere near the defence turrets around the perimeter of the bunker, in case the ship became a target of the VI. Instead, they'd dropped six klicks away - well out of range of the base defences - and opted to approach from as much cover as they could find. Kaidan glanced at his friend as she expertly guided the Mako towards its goal. She'd been... different, since Edolus. Quieter. More withdrawn. Almost as if she was purposely trying to distance herself from him. And the fact that she hadn't opted to let him go on every mission with her merely confirmed his suspicions.

He knew that it was partially because of her new rank. She was a commander now, and she couldn't be seen to be showing favouritism. Any preferential treatment she showed to him would be jumped on immediately and taken as a sign of poor judgement on her behalf. Other people would always suspect that his own achievements were only gained due to her favour, and neither of them wanted that sort of situation hanging over their military careers.

But it wasn't just because of her new rank that she had become distant. There were times when her moods grew darker, and she became withdrawn and tried to avoid company. It always happened at the same time every year, and the anniversary of Akuze was only a few days away. The mood of the Normandy's CO was only going to get worse before it got better, and not even he could cheer her up when she was at her worst of her melancholy moods.

"We're approaching the Luna base," Ellie said. "One klick."

"Charging mass effect cannon," said Williams.

"Main gun standing by," Kaidan confirmed, after consulting his own console.

Suddenly, a warning alarm sounded on one of the navigation consoles, and the display changed from amber to red. Ellie immediately changed direction, heading down into a small trench.

"We've been targetted," she said, her voice calm and factual, though he knew that her adrenaline must be pumping, just as his was. "Once we're out of this trench we'll have to make a run at the base, because there's no more cover. We're a hundred metres until weapons range, so as soon as you have a shot, take it. Aim for the turrets. You'll have to compensate for any velocity changes I need to make. The Mako's shields will take a few hits, but I'd rather not take any chances."

"Aye, commander. I'm ready," said Williams. She was hunched over the cannon console, her shoulders tense and her gaze focused on the targetting scanners.

"Good to go," Kaidan confirmed, hovering his fingers over the main gun controls and keeping an eye on his own targetting HUD.

"Right. Here we go."

Ellie increased the Mako's speed and the vehicle climbed the shallow canyon wall, clearing it in only a few seconds. As soon as it was free of the trench, the defence warning console flashed red again, indicating the enemy had locked onto the vehicle with their weapons guidance systems.

"Hold on, I'm taking us in," Ellie said, changing direction.

The rocket, which had been aimed at the Mako's last position, flew harmlessly overhead, exploding twenty metres away from the vehicle's new location. But the warning console did not change back to amber; several more blips appeared, each of them making their way unerringly towards the Mako. A sheen of sweat appeared on Kaidan's forehead, an internal heat response to the stress on his body as his sympathetic nervous system picked up its pace, preparing him physically for combat.

Ellie turned the Mako again without decreasing the speed, and he felt the slight centrifugal force as the vehicle was spun on its axis. Three more missiles, which had been closing fast on their position, exploded a short distance away, causing the Mako to rock slightly as it sped away from the area. Even with his attention focused on the weapon's systems, Kaidan manged to find time to be impressed by his friend's driving. Even though he often mocked her for it, she was an excellent driver. She always seemed to know when a softer touch was required, and when a vehicle needed to have the hell hammered out of it for best performance. Even when she was performing what seemed like reckless manoeuvres, she never put the vehicle or its occupants in danger. She had the same sort of innate skill with land-vehicles that Joker had with ships, and he was _very_ glad she was the one driving right now. His own driving skills left a lot to be desired. Still, he was capable of lifting a krogan off the ground from a hundred metres away with nothing but a gesture; poor vehicle skills were a decent trade-off, in his estimation. Nobody could be good at everything, not even N7 marines.

Suddenly, his targetting console lit up as the Mako came within weapons range of the defence turrets. He picked a target and began firing, maintaining the weapon in five-second bursts with a five-second cooldown between them, to prevent it from overheating. At this distance the gun wasn't terribly accurate, and by the time they reached their target, the bullets had lost some of their initial velocity. But right now, every little helped, so he kept up the fire as Williams shot the mass effect cannon at ten-second intervals.

With no cover to hide in, Ellie was forced to drive circles around the base, and for a few minutes, her plan worked. Then she swore, and Kaidan quickly realised why.

"It's adapted itself," he pointed out, as the defence turrets stopped aiming at where the Mako _was,_ and started aiming at where it was due to be.

"I noticed," Ellie said, her forehead creasing into a frown. She pulled hard on the Mako's steering controls. "I'm taking us right through the middle of them. I'm not going to get any room to maoeuvre, so whatever you can give me from those guns will be a real help."

His gun's targetting system flashed 200m, and as Ellie took the Mako straight towards the middle of the triangle formed by the three bunkers, that distance rapidly dwindled, until the vehicle was only 50m away from all three turrets. Kaidan selected his target and aimed the main gun, firing several rapid bursts at the enemy tower. He was rewarded with an explosion, and the turret disappeared from his targetting screen. A few seconds later, Ashley fired the mass effect cannon at what was, effectively, point blank range, and took out a second turret.

"Alright!" the chief grinned, enjoying herself _far_ too much. "One more turret to go."

"One more turret, and then the hard work begins," Ellie said drily. "Coming around for another pass. It might not have felt like it, but we took a hit back there, so make this next one count."

"Right, commander."

It was easier to dodge the missiles, now that they were only coming from one turret and not from three. Ellie put the Mako on a straight heading towards the turret above the bunker, narrowing the vehicle's profile and making it harder to hit. One rocket was fired, and she pulled the Mako to the left. When the second rocket was fired, she veered towards the right. By the time the third rocket was fired they were only a hundred metres away from the turret. Kaidan fired the main gun in a long, continuous burst, sacrificing heat absorption for offensive power. It was immediately followed by Ashley firing the cannon one last time as Ellie swerved the Mako right again to avoid the incoming rocket. The turret exploded and Ellie put her foot sharply down on the brakes whilst turning. The Mako slid several metres sideways along the ground, coming to rest five metres away from the bunker's entrance. Switching off the warning console, which was advising a collision was imminent, she shut down the Mako's engine.

"And that's how we take out enemy turrets," she said.

"You have _got_ to teach me to stop a vehicle like that, commander," Ashley said, her voice full of excitement. "I can't believe we didn't hit the bunker. Or that you didn't flip the Mako."

Kaidan shook his head. Women drivers. They were all crazy! What was wrong with coming to a good old fashioned controlled stop? Still, Ellie's driving _had_ prevented the Mako from taking any real damage. The only hit had been taken by the shields, preventing the explosion from affecting the vehicle's body.

"Sure," Ellie replied. "The next habitable planet we find, we can stand Kaidan in a field and I'll teach you how to stop from high speed before hitting him."

"Very funny, commander," he replied. He was _fairly_ sure she was joking.

"Don't worry, LT, I'm a fast learner," Ashley grinned.

"You know," he said, "I'm sure this is bullying. Or harassment. Possibly both."

"EVA time," Ellie said, ignoring his complaint. She pulled her own breather helmet out from beneath the seat. "Suit up."

Kaidan reached beneath his chair and picked up his helmet, pulling it over his head and securing the seals which attached it to his armour. Once all three of them were ready for EVA, and they had tested their radios to ensure they would work, Ellie depressurised the Mako's interior and they began to climb up the small ladder, onto the top of the vehicle.

"Remember," she told them, "Luna's gravitational pull is far less than that of Earth, or the artificial environments we're used to. We may only have to go a few steps, but make sure they're careful ones."

When all three of them were standing atop the Mako, they looked down at the surface of the moon, some few feet below them.

"One small step for man?" Kaidan asked, and he saw Ellie's smile through the clear material of her helmet visor.

"One giant leap for mankind," she replied, and stepped down from the Mako, landing softly on the moon's surface.

By the time Kaidan and Willams were on the ground, Ellie was already making her way towards the door of the nearest bunker. She was feeling impatient; he could tell by the way she moved and spoke, and the way in which she had patiently put up with the diplomats she had been forced to deal with, all the while looking more and more harassed. He thought he understood why she felt as she did; to her, Saren was the biggest threat around. Although Hackett was right, and she _was_ perfectly suited to this task, the Alliance _could_ have found another way. Bombing the facility from orbit, for example, or sending in a full battalion of soldiers would have done the trick. Apparently, he wasn't the only one having similar thoughts.

"Hey commander?" said Williams, taking an extra long stride to catch up with Ellie.

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't Alliance brass just drop a nuke on this place from orbit? I mean, it's not like there's an atmosphere to pollute, and all base personnel are already dead, right?"

"Bombing from orbit is too unclean. It would leave a lot of mess. And there's no guarantees it would work, even if using a nuke. The bunkers have magnetic shielding specifically designed to prevent their computers been taken out by an EMP. The-powers-that-be felt the only way to truly destroy the VI is to physically destroy the system it's using to control the facility."

All three of them stopped at the entrance to the bunker, and readied their weapons.

"This doesn't feel right," Ash said. "Luna is one of our most secure training facilities. For the VI to have gone rogue and killed everybody..."

"I know what you mean," Ellie replied. "Everything about this mission feels wrong. But there's not much we can do about it now. We have a job to do. I'll take point, Kaidan, you've got our six, and remember that the brass still have control of the surveillance system, so they could be watching. Mind your language."

Kaidan scoffed. "Says the woman who swears far worse than any trooper."

"Hit the door control," Ellie told him. "Since we've had confirmation that all base personnel have been terminated, you both have authorisation to shoot to kill. Anything that moves."

"Right," said Ash, gripping her assault rifle tightly.

Kaidan reached out and pressed the door entry button, and a single chime told him that it was about to open. He stepped to one side of the door whilst Ellie and Ash took the other side, pressing their bodies against the wall of the bunker, ready to glance around for enemies. The door slid silently open and Ellie glanced first. She must have seen nothing worthy of note, because she entered, her body tense, and Williams followed her. With a last glance around outside, at the ruined defence turrets, Kaidan followed them in.

o - o - o - o - o

There was darkness, and heat, and a sense of confinement. _This must be how babies feel in the womb_, Ash thought. She could already feel trickles of perspiration rolling down her forehead, but she ignored them, her eyes making use of every scrap of red emergency lighting available. This was the entrance room, the first area of bunker one, and at present it was filled with storage crates. She was crouched down behind one whilst Shepard glanced ahead, making sure the coast was clear. And when the commander moved forwards by a few paces, taking cover behind a tall stack of the crates, Ash followed, finding her own pile to hide behind.

"Why's it so hot?" she asked, her voice steady despite the palpable tension she could feel lingering in the air.

"Environmental system must be malfunctioning," said Shepard. She briefly consulted her omni-tool. "External temperature is fifty celsius. Our EVA suits can handle worse than this."

"Maybe the VI's trying to bake us alive," Kaidan suggested.

Nobody answered. From what Ash knew of the Luna base systems, which was admittedly very little, it was entirely possible for the VI to be controlling the environmental system. She just hoped that it didn't switch off the artificial gravity - combat in zero-g's was a nightmare.

Shepard moved forward again, and Ash followed, stroking the side of Suzie, her rifle. The base gave her the creeps, and not in a good way. The unpleasant heat, the ominous and sinister red emergency lighting... it was almost as if the VI had studied extranet vids to find out what creeped people out, and then simulated the same conditions. It was probably only a matter of time before it started to make the lights flicker, too. Was there anything more creepy than a flickering light in a hot, dark place? And to think, she had once had fond memories of basic training in this place, of meeting new people, making friends, working with the rest of her unit to overcome the odds. Now those memories were forever ruined, tainted by everything that had happened here during the past three days.

The commander's arm came up, her hand curled into a fist, and Ash froze on the spot, with Kaidan a couple of paces behind her. With her heartbeat pounding in her ears, she watched as Shepard moved forward and crouched down to examine something.

"A body," Shepard said, over the radio.

Ash hurried forward, with Kaidan right behind her, and they both looked down at the corpse. With the whole area bathed in the red of the emergency lighting, it was hard to tell where the blood ended. The man was lying where he had fallen, back against the wall. His face was probably pale, but it merely looked red, and the hole in his chest showed how he had died. She'd never seen anybody killed by rocket-impact before, but there was no denying what had happened here. The man wasn't even wearing armour, or carrying a gun. He was dressed in a plain blue jumpsuit, and when Shepard reached out to search beneath his shirt for tags, there were none.

"Base technician," Shepard said. "Probably running diagnostics whilst the soldiers were training. Poor bastard didn't stand a chance." She tapped her helmet comm button twice, opening the channel to any nearby transmitters. "To whoever is monitoring the surveillance system, this is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy. We've entered bunker one of Luna base and discovered the body of a technician who had been dead for several days. We are now proceeding into the tactical area and will soon reach the VI housing units. Will report back once we've retaken control of bunker one. Shepard out."

"Is it just me," Ash said, looking at the body of the fallen man, "or did it just get a lot hotter in here?"

"Deep breaths, chief," said Kaidan, placing a hand on her shoulder. At least, her suit's haptic feedback loop indicated he had put his hand on her shoulder - she couldn't bring herself to look away from the dead man to check. She was no stranger to death. When her father had passed away, she had been by his side, reading to him his favourite poem - Ulysses, by Tennyson. And, on Eden Prime, she had seen death up close. It had stalked her unit, walking amongst the colonists and scientists without discrimination. She had looked death in the face, and seen the geth looking back. But this... this wasn't supposed to be real. It was supposed to be a game, actors on a stage, young men and women little more than boys and girls learning how to fire weapons. Death was not supposed to know about this place.

"The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die," she said, wishing she had better words, but not knowing any better than those Tennyson could offer.

"Is that poetry, chief?" Shepard asked.

"Ulysses, if I'm not mistaken," said Kaidan. "Tennyson, right?"

Ash turned and gave him a tight smile. It was rare to find somebody who knew the poem well enough that they could recognise a random section of the verse. Shepard, meanwhile, made a scoffing sound. "You don't like poetry, commander?" Ash asked her.

"Don't take it personally," Kaidan replied for his CO. "She doesn't like verse unless it comes with a catchy beat or some of that Italian wailing she's so fond of."

"It's not that," Shepard replied. "I read The Odyssey for fun, once. Odysseus was a poor leader, and an incompetent captain. He left his wife and son to plunder Troy, and on the way back, managed to get almost the entirety of his crew killed by making too many mistakes and not learning from them. Why anybody would want to idolise the man and make poetry about him is beyond me." Crouching down, she reached out to close the eyes of the dead man. "I hope he finds peace in death."

"Do you believe in the afterlife, commander?" Ash asked. It seemed a strange sentiment, for somebody who didn't like poetry.

"To be honest," Shepard sighed, "I'm not sure what I believe anymore. But talk of death isn't going to get our mission done faster. Let's go."

And just like that, they were back to business. By avoiding looking at the dead technician, Ash was able to regain her focus. Feeling the comforting weight of Suzie in her hands also helped, as did the knowledge that the Alliance brass were probably watching all of this in real-time. Ergo, she had to be at her best. She couldn't afford to let what had happened here affect her. Shepard and Kaidan were relying on her. And now, after all these years, she'd finally been given a place on a ship, she wasn't going to do _anything_ to jeopardise that.

_Daddy, I hope I'm making you proud,_ she thought, certain that he could hear her.

Their small group approached the entrance to the combat training area, and the commander pressed the door button. As it slid open she peered around into the room, then quickly withdrew as several bolts hit door frame beside her face.

"Shit," Shepard swore. "Williams, lay down some cover fire. I'm going to hack one of the rocket drones and see if I can take out one or two of the assault drones. Kaidan, concentrate on overloading their guns."

As both of the more technically-minded people activated their omni-tools and began rapidly entering commands, Ash stepped forward, activating her kinetic barrier and lifting her weapon to firing-height. Movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she fired a burst at the assault drone approaching their position. A few bullets impacted its triangular frame, which began to spark. But instead of advancing it activated its small anti-grav unit and flew up into the air, firing from a new position. She felt stray bullets bouncing off her own shield, and was forced to withdraw to allow her weapon's heat-sink time to cool down. As soon as Suzie was ready, she leant around the corner and took aim once more, finishing off the assault drone that had so rudely tried to assault her. It exploded, but another one quickly took its place, and from the other side of the room a rocket drone appeared, attempting to flank her. She quickly ducked back into cover before it could do to her what it had done to the technician.

"Got it," Shepard said. She activated a program on her O-T and from within the combat area there came the sound of explosions. "Kaidan, how's that overload coming?" she asked impatiently.

"They've managed to adapt to prevent overload. I'm creating a work-around," he replied, his voice sounding strained. "I just need another minute."

"Williams," said Shepard, "see if you can get a count of how many drones are in that room."

"Right away, ma'am!" she replied. With the assault drones occupied by the hacked rocket drone, she slipped into the room and took cover behind a pile of crates. Peering over the top, she took a count of how many hostiles she could see. "Confirmed four assault drones and two rocket drones, including the one you hacked, commander," she reported. "But I can hear weapons fire from further back in the room, in an area I can't get a visual on. Possibly one more of each drone."

"I've got the overload ready, commander," she heard Kaidan say.

"Good job," Shepard replied. "I'm going to hack one of the assault drones, and Kaidan, I want you to execute the overload program at the same time. Williams, you and Kaidan work on taking out the assault drones, and I'll get rid of the rocket drones. Understood?"

"Aye, commander," Ash said.

"Alright. Here we go. Hacking assault drone. Kaidan, execute the program... **now**. Williams, go!"

Ash pushed herself up, appearing from behind the crates, and took aim at the drones. Most of them were attacking a single assault drone - the one Shepard had hacked - but some of them were just standing there, or floating there, not firing at anything. Those were the ones she targetted first, opting to pick them off before they recovered their ability to fire. As she was shooting, Kaidan appeared beside her, followed closely by Shepard. For several minutes they fought a battle consisting of firing a few rounds and then ducking back into cover. It was a deadly game of cat and mouse, and though the organic fighters were out-numbered, they had something the synthetics did not; true intelligence. When the weapons-fire fell silent, the room was littered with electronic parts.

"That's all of them," Shepard said, emerging from her cover and surveying the room.

Ashley followed suit, and soon wished she hadn't. A dozen bodies lay around the room where they had fallen, some riddled with bullets, others possessing burns caused by close-impact rocket explosions. Most of them had been hit in the back, fired upon whilst they weren't even looking.

"These people..." Kaidan said. "They were massacred."

"Just be glad you're wearing your EVA helmet," Shepard replied, glancing at one of the corpses. "Looks like some of them have started to decompose. "The smell in here must be terrible, especially with the heat set as high as it is."

"I don't recall seeing VI housing conduits the last time I was here," Ash said, to take her mind off the bodies.

"They're in one of the back rooms, which recruits don't normally see," said Shepard.

"But you just happened to have seen them whilst you were training here?" Kaidan asked.

"I might have taken a peek or two, whilst my supervisors weren't watching," the commander admitted. Ash shook her head. She hadn't realised that the hero of Akuze, commander of the Normandy, and humanity's first Spectre, would be such a... delinquent. "This way."

Ash followed Shepard into another corridor, one she had never been in before, towards a closed and locked door. The commander's O-T was put to work, and the door didn't stay locked for very long. When it opened, she found herself looking at several data storage units lined up against the wall; six she counted in total, and they seemed to be operating together in pairs opposite each other.

Kaidan entered the room last, shutting the door behind himself and looking around. "How do you want to do this, commander?" he asked. "Timed proximity mines, or pull the hard-drives and take them back to HQ for examination?"

For a response, Shepard lifted her pistol and pointed it at the closest VI conduit, firing a full round into it until the conduit exploded, sending a shower of sparks everywhere.

"Now that's a method of fixing faulty technology I can get on board with," Ash smiled. She aimed Suzie at another conduit and fired several shots of the rifle. The conduit exploded just as the first one had, and soon even Kaidan had joined in. When Ash took out the last VI conduit, she felt a sense of satisfaction. True, it wouldn't bring back the dead soldiers, but it would stop the VI from ever hurting anybody again.

"_WARNING_," came a computerised voice. The automated system, she realised. "_DEFENCE PROCEDURES INITIATED. VENTING TOXIC GAS INTO BUNKERS._"

"Sorry, Hal," said Shepard, "but we're not making the same mistakes as the men you murdered." She fired her pistol at the voice panel, and the warning siren went silent.

"Hal?" Ash asked.

"It's an obscure popular culture reference," Shepard explained. She suddenly looked very, very tired. As well as very, very hot. "Come on, team. We've still got two more bunkers to clear before the Alliance can come in and give these soldiers the respect they deserve."

"Aye, ma'am," Ash replied. As far as she was concerned, they couldn't be gone from this place soon enough.

o - o - o - o - o

Ellie glanced into the room, at the drones which had been activated upon the destruction of bunker two's VI conduits. As a result of the action her team had taken, bunker three was much better defended. The drones were more aggressive, their shields were stronger, and they took longer to shoot down. Something still didn't feel right. The VI was learning _much_ too quickly, and the measures it was employing reminded her in some ways of an immune system, sending white blood cells to swarm a foreign organism detected in the body.

"Ready when you are, commander," Ash said over the comm. Ellie glanced at Kaidan, catching his dark brown eyes through his clear helmet visor. He nodded. He was ready too.

Their tactics had proven remarkably successful. Williams would provide target practice for the drones, laying down cover-fire whilst Ellie and Kaidan worked at hacking them and overloading their weapons. Their job had been made easier by the ammo they used; it was specifically designed to be damaging to synthetics, and they had set off with it from the Normandy, which had been well-equipped to handle the geth. Now, the ammo was giving them an edge over the VI which grew more dangerous with every encounter. If she and her team hadn't been wearing EVA helmets, they would have been gassed to death in bunker one.

"Alright, go," she said, her fingers flicking over her omni-tool's holographic interface as she commanded one of the drones to attack the other. It was slow work, because most forms of technology randomised their access codes based on a particular algorithm. Once you knew the algorithm - which had been provided to her by HQ before the start of the mission - it was just a matter of trial and error.

She successfully cracked one of the codes, and reprogrammed the drone to attack the others. Drones were much easier to reprogram than mechs... unfortunately, these drones were controlled by a clever VI, which made her job harder, but not impossible. Kaidan was struggling a little more, still trying to work out the code for overpowering the drones' weapons, but then, he'd never been _quite_ as good at tech as she had. It was the one area she truly excelled and felt at home with. Technology was easy. It mostly only did what you told it to do. People, on the other hand, were far more complicated, and sometimes she felt that even with her intensive psych training, she was still using guess-work half of the time.

An explosion in the room signalled that Kaidan had successfully overloaded the drones' weapons, and as soon as he had, Ellie peered out around the door frame and began firing at a target. She managed twelve shots, which equalled the destruction of one assault drone, before she was forced to withdraw and let her weapon cool down or risk overheating. When she pulled back, Kaidan took her place, backing up Williams who was causing some heavy damage with her assault rifle. Then Kaidan was forced to withdraw, and Ellie began shooting again. By this point there were only two drones left; one of them was rendered inert by Williams' gunfire, and the last Ellie subjected to a sabotage program she had recently written. It caused a dangerous feedback loop in the drone's primary power distribution net, and it exploded violently, sending a shower of small machine parts across the room. When silence finally reigned, all three of them stood, and surveyed the conduit housing room of the last bunker.

"Man, I'm going to be _so_ glad to see the back of this place," said Ashley. Her face, inside her helmet, had a definite sheen to it. Ellie knew just how she felt. It was still stiflingly hot in the bunkers, and the steady stream of adrenaline coursing through her veins didn't help either.

"Same treatment as last time, commander?" Kaidan asked.

Ellie looked at the housing conduits. It was a shame the VI had to be destroyed. It was a good VI, or at least it had been, serving the Alliance well ever since its inception. It wasn't it's fault that it had gone rogue; it was the result of either bad initial programming, or more recent tampering. The VI could have lasted many more decades, helping to teach and train new soldiers who would go on to fight in any number of important campaigns. Such a waste.

"Commander?" Kaidan reiterated. Looking at him, she saw concern in his brown eyes, and gave him a reassuring smile. He was a worrier by nature; never for himself, always for other people. He would have made a good doctor, she thought.

"Same as before," she replied.

They all raised their weapons, taking aim. She was the first to fire, and when she turned her gun to the last remaining VI conduit, she felt the moment of regret again. But the VI was too dangerous, now. It had killed people, turning on its creators, though clearly without any intent. Nothing could be salvaged from it. The new Luna VI would have to be designed completely from scratch. She pulled the trigger of her pistol, firing bullets into the conduit.

As the conduit began to spark, a screeching sound burst over her helmet's radio, and she subconsciously grasped at her helmet, as if she could cover her ears with her hands. It lasted only a few seconds, though, before dying away. And as it died, so did the emergency lighting, plunging the room into darkness. Against the odds, one light hung on for a moment longer, flickering in the darkness before switching off completely.

"That's just great," Williams said.

Ellie switched on her gun's side-light, lifting it to illuminate her crew-members. They both looked every bit as hot, sweaty and tired as she felt, and she knew that the disturbed look in their eyes at seeing so much needless death, was a reflection of her own.

"Come on," she said, leading the way back towards the exit, through the mass graveyard of humans and drones alike. "Let's tell HQ they can send somebody else in to clean up the mess. We've still got a job to do."


	22. Eden no Omoide

Deus Ex Machina

_22. Eden no Omoide_

Quiet piano music played in the background as Ellie, seated in front of her computer terminal in her private quarters, flicked through the reports Admiral Hackett had sent her. He'd praised her good work, as well as that of her team, and advised that all eighty-five bodies had been recovered, and the families notified. Every computer within the base had been removed and replaced, and engineers were currently designing a new VI to handle the training programs which would eventually restart at Luna. Lessons had been learnt, he assured her. The new VI would not be given as much processing freedom as the old one, and its programming would be routinely checked to ensure there was no defective coding which could risk replicating and creating further critical errors. The slaughter of the base personnel reminded her, in some ways, of Akuze, with one important difference. This time, there _were_ lessons to be learnt, even if the final cost had come too high. Nobody could have predicted Akuze. Nobody could have accounted for a Thresher Maw.

For the moment she ignored the brief message sitting in the background of her console. Out of curiosity, she had translated the shrieking noise emitted by the dying VI. It had been binary; her omni-tool had identified it as such right away, but she had wanted to wait until she was back aboard before working on the translation. She didn't want anybody, her crew or the military officials watching through the base surveillance system, to know that she was giving the VI any more thought. And what she had translated disturbed her, sending a chill down her spine.

The door bell chimed, and she looked up from her screen. "It's open," she said.

The person who stepped into the room wasn't entirely unexpected. She'd been waiting for Wrex to make an appearance ever since she'd come back aboard the ship after the mission on Luna. He stepped into the room and glanced around in frank appraisal as the door closed behind him.

"Nice quarters," he said, his red eyes taking in the chairs, table and bed.

"The perk of being captain," she smiled. "Well, not in title obviously. So. How's the new food?"

"Better," he grunted. "Your cook gave me something called 'beef'. It was a good change from chicken, even if it did leave the same rehydrated aftertaste in my mouth."

"I recall there was something you want to talk to me about," she said, gesturing to the chair beside the desk.

"Huh, you remember that, do you? Thought you were just making pleasantries. And no thanks, I prefer to stand."

"I have a good memory. And I try to avoid pleasantries with my crew. They're unnecessary. Now, what's on your mind?" she asked, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms across her chest.

For a moment Wrex was silent, and he paced the area in front of her desk. Though in his paces, it only equated to about three, before he was forced to turn around. When he finally stopped in front of her, he looked both defiant and hesitant, which was an odd combination to see on his scarred face.

"I told you I'd help you with Saren, and I will," he promised. "I'll be with you until this thing's finished, no matter which way it ends."

"And your help is appreciated," she told him. Then, a thought crossed her mind. "Is this about payment?" she asked him. "I know that normally you'd be well paid for your mercenary work-"

"It's not about payment, Shepard," he said, sounding offended. "Well, not exactly. Normally, only a really wealthy client would be able to afford my services, but you're feeding me, giving me transport, giving me... a tiny cubicle to sleep in. As long as you or your military or the Council keeps paying for my weapons and armour, that's good enough for me."

"If you need any upgrades at all, just speak to my requisitions officer," she told him earnestly. "Anything you need, we'll get, and I'll put it on the Council's tab. A Spectre's gotta have some perks after all, right?"

"Right."

"So. If not payment, what did you want to talk to me in private about?"

"Well," he said, scratching the crest on his head with his thick fingers, "after this whole Saren situation's done with, I have a thing of my own I need to do. Need to go home and bang a few heads together until a bit of common sense enters them. And that common sense would go in a lot easier if I had the Urdnot family armour."

She leant forward on her desk, resting her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. "I'm listening."

"Basically it's an old family relic," he said. His large red eyes briefly took on a faraway look, before his gaze turned back to her face. "Passed down from generation to generation, Urdnot to Urdnot, father to son."

"And I'm guessing you don't have it?"

"No. It was stolen from Tuchanka by the turians after the krogan rebellions, and is now in the 'private collection' of a profiteer named Tonn Actus." The name came out as a growl, and Wrex subconsciously clenched his hands into fists. "For dealing with Fist, the Shadow Broker was going to get my armour back from Actus, but the greedy son of a varren won't sell for any price." He reached behind his back and lifted the assault rifle from its maglock on his armour. "With the money the Shadow Broker paid me, I bought this. I'm going to use it to kill Actus and take back what is rightfully mine."

"Perhaps I can use my Spectre status to confiscate your armour from him," she mused. It would be putting her new title to good use.

"No," Wrex said, banging his fist down on her desk and making her glass of water ripple. "Actus had his chance to sell, and he refused. My armour isn't the only krogan artifact in his possession. Those are relics of my people, and once I've pried my armour from his cold dead hands, I'm going to return my peoples' items to their rightful owners. How would you like it, Shepard, if the turians had looted _your_ planet and claimed valuable artifacts and heirlooms as their spoils of war?"

"I see your point," she said. Not that she'd ever had any heirlooms, but she would have been mighty pissed if somebody had stolen her bike. "Alright. If this armour is important to you, and the artifacts to your people, then I'll help you recover them as soon as we're done on Noveria. Where can we find Tonn Actus?"

"Well," he said, putting his rifle away and looking slightly chagrined, "I don't exactly know. I've put feelers out for his location, but not had anything back yet. As soon as I find out, though, I'll let you know."

"Alright. Sounds like a plan."

"Thanks, Shepard. I appreciate your help. Not many people will go out of their way to help a krogan these days."

"One good turn deserves another," she told him. "I'll feel a lot happier going up against Saren knowing I've got strong allies such as yourself behind me."

"Behind you?" he laughed. "Shepard, I'll be so far ahead of you that Saren will be dead and twitching by the time you catch up."

He was still chuckling as he left her room, and she shook her head with a smile. He was so confident that they'd be victorious. Then again, he _had_ survived for almost a thousand years... victory had probably become a habit to him.

With a sigh, she dismissed thoughts of Wrex. Until he told her where he could find his armour, there was nothing much she could do for him, unless he had further dietary requirements. And right now, she had more important things to be concerned about. She needed a second opinion on the Luna VI situation, so she pressed the internal comm button on her console. "Lieutenant Alenko, could I see you for a moment please?"

She settled back into her chair and waited. After just a few moments, the door bell chimed again, and she pressed the entry button, admitting her friend into the room.

"What's up?" he asked, taking the seat that Wrex had declined.

"I was going over the Luna VI mission in my head," she explained. "I've been trying to figure out _how_ the VI was compromised."

"We don't know that it _was_ compromised, Ellie," he replied. "You know as well as I do that sometimes, technology breaks. The VI programming is incredibly complex, far beyond anything you or I can do. All it takes is one coding error, and it can spiral out of control."

"Like cancer?" she asked. "One wrong sequence in the DNA transcription, one faulty gene replication, and before you know it you've got a tumour on your hands. The Luna VI system has, or had, redundancies in place to prevent these sorts of errors from escalating. Its self-diagnostic was programmed to reload an earlier version of itself from backup if an error in coding was detected. For some reason, that didn't happen. Either the backup was damaged too, or the VI _chose_ not to reload an earlier version of itself."

"I know where you're going with this," Kaidan sighed. His brown eyes looked troubled, and full of concern. "The Luna system was not alive. It was a malfunctioning VI. Nothing more."

"I translated the noise we heard when we 'deactivated' the VI," she said. "It was binary." She turned the console screen around, so that Kaidan could read what was on it. Just one word, repeated over and over again, which had caused the auditory 'screech' that had flooded all comm channels. One word: HELP.

"That doesn't mean anything," he said.

"It was a cry for help, Kaidan. It sensed that it was about to die and asked for help," she insisted.

He leant forward across the desk, taking her hands in his, focusing his warm brown eyes on her face. "You aren't responsible for killing a life-form, Ellie," he said. "The VI was likely programmed by somebody to transmit a help request, in the event that it was facing imminent deactivation. Somebody was trying to manipulate you, knowing that most people, when asked for help, will give it."

"I wish I could believe you," she said, giving his hands a squeeze before pulling her grip from his. "But the request for help came in binary. Something that's not easily translatable by humans. If it was somebody trying to preserve the VI, they would have sent a help request over the base tannoy."

Kaidan was silent for a moment, considering her words. "You don't have to do this, you know," he said at last.

"Do what?"

"Find ways to punish yourself. You look for ways to make things your fault, and make yourself feel bad, as if you feel you need to be punished for something."

"I do not!" she denied hotly.

"Oh really? So you don't feel at all responsible for Jenkins, or Nihlus?"

"Of course not. Those deaths are on Saren's hands, not mine."

"And if, hypothetically speaking, you'd known in advance that the Luna VI had evolved into an AI - hypothetically speaking, of course - what would you have done differently?"

"I don't know," she admitted. It was so easy to act in hindsight, to speculate and say 'what if'. Maybe what Kaidan said was true. Maybe she _did_ make herself feel bad about situations, but that was how she learnt from her mistakes. She wasn't somebody who could just breeze through life pretending her actions didn't have consequences. It just wasn't _her_.

"That VI was hostile before we even set foot inside the first bunker," he said patiently, his voice calm and reasoned. Very little could upset or anger Kaidan; sometimes Ellie didn't know where he got his patience from. He seemed to have a limitless supply of the stuff. At times she found his slow, methodical, logical ways infuriating, but she knew that he also had good reason to act as he did. Once he had acted rashly, striking out with his biotic powers at somebody who was threatening a person he cared for, and though he had been little more than a child at the time, he had killed the individual in question. It had taught him caution, and respect for his own powers, tempering his anger with patience and care. "The VI didn't try to communicate with the men on the base. It didn't try to make contact. It just killed them. It shot many of them in the back at point-blank range. That is not the behaviour of an artificial intelligence. That is a virtual intelligence gone rogue."

"I supposed you're right," she conceded. She couldn't bring herself to agree with him, but she would never see the situation his way, and he would never see it hers. "Well, thanks for stopping by. We'll be at Noveria in a few hours, and I'd like to catch up on my sleep before we arrive."

"Alright," he said, rising hesitantly from the chair. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure," she said, giving her best manufactured smile. "Good night, Kaidan."

"Good night, Ellie," he said, and left.

Once she was alone she took one last look at her computer console and switched off the screen. Whatever the Luna VI had been, it was now no more, and there was nothing she could do about it. Losing sleep over it would only make her tired, impairing her judgement and compromising her reaction times. She stripped down to her vest and knickers, folding her uniform up and placing it in the drawers beside her bed. Then she drew back the blanket, crawled onto the suspiciously hard mattress and closed her eyes. For once it was not visions of Protheans being wiped out that were waiting to greet her in the darkness of her own eyelids, but a long string of ones and zeros instead.

"Computer," she said, "switch off the lights and wake me in four hours."

o - o - o - o - o

When Eloise opened her eyes, she found herself in a green field, the sun warming her face and arms, which were bare because she was wearing civilian clothing; blue trousers and a white short-sleeved shirt. The landscape had a certain... fuzziness to it, and when she looked around at her surroundings she saw a pylon in the near distance, and recognised it as the communications tower of Eden Prime's space port. So. She was back in her dream, was she? Well, at least this time she knew in advance that she was dreaming.

Hoping to find more answers this time, she set off walking in the direction of the tower. Once again, the lack of birds or insects confused her. Why would her dreaming mind come up with the trouble of picturing trees and the sky and buildings, but not bother with adding wildlife? In fact, why weren't there people here, either? This field looked, in her admittedly inexpert opinion, to be prime agricultural land. Why weren't there farmers here, cultivating it?

When she reached the spaceport she climbed down a set of metal ladders, descending onto the platform. There were crates, as there had been during her first visit - her _only_ visit, she corrected herself - to the planet. But just as in her last dream, there were no workers, no ship crew members... in fact, there weren't even any ships docked at the port. Not a single shuttle or transport vessel.

The sound of laughter coming from the far side of the port caught her attention, and she walked towards it, towards the edge of the platform. There, she blinked, and rubbed her eyes, unsure if she was truly seeing what she thought she was seeing. It _couldn't_ be real. She took another step forward, putting herself at the _very_ edge of the platform, which ended in a sheer cliff, dropping some two hundred feet to the ground below. But there, in front of her, only a couple of dozen metres away from her and apparently floating in mid-air, was a second platform, almost identical to her own. The only difference was that the floating platform was not devoid of life. On it, some two-dozen young human children played, some bouncing balls, others with toy ships and ground-vehicles, others holding dolls dressed up like soldiers or naval officers, some using childrens' omni-tools to scan each other and play at doctors or engineers, whilst some sat doing jigsaw puzzles and playing board games.

"Hey!" she shouted across. But the children ignored her, continuing the games they played with each other. Cupping her hand around her mouth, she leant as far forward over the safety rail as she dared. "Hey, kids!" she shouted, more loudly this time.

"I wouldn't waste your breath, Shepard," said a familiar voice behind her. She turned and found Nihlus a few paces away, watching her. He, like the rest of the place, was once more surrounded by a hazy outline.

"You can see them?" she asked, pointing to the immobile, floating platform.

"Yes," he replied.

"How long have they been here?"

"They've always been here." He stepped up to the rail and looked out to the other platform. "Well, the dock has always been there. The children come and go. A shuttle comes for them from time to time, and brings others in their place."

"What are they _doing_ here?"

"The same thing that we all come here to do," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Wait."

"Wait for what?"

"I don't know. I suppose it's different for all of us. Personally, I'm waiting for you to complete your mission and stop Saren. I promised to help you, and I will."

"And after I've completed my mission, and you're done with your waiting?"

He shrugged. "I guess I'll move on. Find a new mission. Maybe go home. I don't know. It might not even be up to me. I suppose none of us truly ever knows what's coming. We can take an educated guess, and work out odds, but we can't _know_."

"This makes no sense!" she said, feeling every bit as exasperated as she sounded. "I'm dreaming of an Eden Prime that has nothing but a cryptic Spectre, a dead marine, and a floating platform of children on it! Perhaps I shouldn't have looked at so many of Dali's works when I was younger."

"Does it have to make sense?" he asked, turning to focus his piercing green eyes on her.

"Yes. Everything has its place. Dead men and floating platforms of children do not belong in my dreams."

"And if this isn't a dream?"

"Then what? Some sort of... strange afterlife? I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. I don't believe in God, or a creator, or the Enkindlers, or anything of the sort. And if this was the afterlife, or heaven, or hell, or whatever you want to call it, I'm pretty sure it would have a few more people in it. Plus," she said, turning to point once more at the children, "those? I have no idea who they are. As far as I'm aware, I haven't seen them die. And how the hell can a platform be floating in mid-air?"

"Perhaps that is its place," he said.

"I don't take kindly to mocking," she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Then that is to be your first lesson."

"You want me to work on my sense of humour?"

"No. Come with me."

He turned and walked away from the edge of the platform, and she had no other choice but to follow him. Well, she _did_ have a choice, but it involved standing there and watching children at play. At least Nihlus was acknowledging her presence and not out-right ignoring her. If, in fact, he really _was_ Nihlus. For all she knew, he was just a figment of her imagination.

He took her down a familiar path, and she quickly realised where they were going. Before long she saw the dig site, the Prothean beacon still standing in the centre of it, still whole and intact. When the reached it, Nihlus walked to up to, and reached out to touch it.

"I'd be careful about doing that, if I were you," she said.

"It's alright, Shepard. I've touched it before. Here," he said, running his hand over it. "Do you feel anything, when I do this?"

"No. Why should I?"

"It was a theory I came up with, whilst waiting for you to show up. I think the beacon affected you more than you know. I think it has somehow tapped into your mind and created all of this," he said, gesturing around at the planet.

"So you're just a figment of my imagination, generated by the Prothean beacon?"

"That's one thing I hadn't figured out," he admitted. "I think I'm me. I _feel_ like me. I have all of my memories and experiences. I don't know how your mind could have generated me."

"Maybe you just _think_ you have your memories and experiences, because my mind is making you believe that."

"Shepard," he said, taking a step towards her, "do you know what colour Palaven's moons appear, when seen from the planet surface?"

"No," she said.

"Do you know the names of the people who were the Council representatives, at the time when I was made a Spectre?"

"No."

"Do you know what gift my father gave me on my fifteenth birthday, the year before he died?"

"No."

"The moons appear blue when seen from Palaven. The Council representatives were Tevos, Ledon and Kallax. My father gave me a pistol, which had been given to him by his father, and so on and so forth, which I carried with me up until my death. I'd like you to have the pistol, by the way. It's quite an old model, but it still packs a punch."

"Really?" she asked, surprised by his sentiment. "You want _me_ to have your family's pistol?"

"Yes. I have no sons or daughters of my own to pass it on to. In lieu of having any living family, you'll do. Of course," he said thoughtfully, "it's probably in Saren's possession now, along with the rest of my personal files and items. You'll have to take it from him."

"That won't be a problem," she assured him. "And thank you. It means a lot to me, that you want me to have it."

"You read too much into things," he said gruffly. "Back to the beacon..."

"Alright," she said. "I'm willing to accept that perhaps the Prothean beacon is behind me dreaming about this place. And I'm even willing to accept that somehow, it's managed to put you in my dream, with all of your knowledge and experience, though I don't see how that could be. But how the hell can you explain a floating platform of children?"

"I said it was a theory," he reminded her. "I could be wrong. It does happen from time to time. I was wrong about Saren."

"You couldn't have known that his allegiances had changed."

"Maybe not. But I should have been more suspicious. He arrived on Eden Prime far too quickly after the distress call we received. Let that be a lesson to you, Shepard. Watch your friends closely, and trust them only as much as you need to."

"If I can't trust my friends, I'll turn into a paranoid wreck," she replied. "I don't work well alone."

"You're a Spectre. You'll always be alone."

"Perhaps you should have told me that before I was offered the post," she said, frowning at his presumption.

"You mistake cause and effect, Shepard," he elaborated. "You won't be alone because you're a Spectre. You're a Spectre because you're always alone. Everything about you singles you out; your upbringing, your ability to survive, your special training... are you telling me that you've never stood in a crowd and felt completely alone?"

"No," she lied. "Besides, not all Spectres work alone. Just because you chose to, does not mean I have to make the same decisions."

"Maybe not. Maybe you'll last longer than I did," he replied.

"That's not funny," she said angrily. How could he be so flippant about his own death?

"It wasn't meant to be."

She glanced past him, at the Prothean beacon, which was still active. Was this thing _really_ making her imagine all of this? Were Nihlus' responses dictated by her own mind? If not, where the hell was she? If this _was_ some sort of freaky afterlife, why was a turian in the human version of it? Didn't they have their own afterlife to get to? Running her hand over the beacon, as he had done, she felt nothing in response, but she did remember what Parsons had said to her the last time she had been here.

"Am I going to die?" she asked him.

"Everything dies. You know, there's something about you I don't understand, Shepard."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"You don't believe in a creator, but you believe everything has its place. That sentiment might work as far as physical laws are concerned, with inanimate objects forced to obey the laws of physics, but how do you factor sentient life-forms into that? If you believe that they too have their place, then that precludes the possibility of free choice, because you are saying that the 'place' for them is pre-defined and obeying some law. And yet what is capable of creating a law that inhibits or defines sentient life-forms, other than a creator?"

"I suppose it is a bit of a paradox," she admitted with another frown. It was something she hadn't truly considered before.

"If everything has its place, then you will die at your appointed time, in accordance with some grand plan, some pattern woven into the fabric of existence. If everything has its place, then trying to change your own nature, or the nature of others, is futile, because you and they can only ever behave as they were designed to do, and free will does not exist. If however everything does not have its place, then you will die when you become careless or unlucky. If everything does not have its place, then the future is mutable, as are the people in it, including yourself, and you do have the power to bring about change."

"What's the third choice?"

"What makes you think there is one?"

"There's _always_ a third choice," she said confidently. Watching many, many vids had taught her that.

"I suppose you could believe that everything you see as real is actually just a dream, and that when the dreamer wakens from their sleep, it will all just cease to exist."

"I don't think I like that choice."

"Then find a better one," he said. Then he looked at the sky, at the sun which hadn't moved. "You'd better get going. You'll be at Noveria soon."

"How can you tell?" she asked. From what she could tell, she had only been in this dream for half an hour or so. She still had plenty of time before arriving at Noveria.

"I just know."

At that moment an Alliance shuttle flew overhead, crossing the path of the sun on a trajectory towards the space port.

"That'll be for you," Nihlus said, following its flight with his eyes.

"I suppose I'll get going, then. Big mission and all."

"Very good."

"Will you walk me to the space port?"

"You know the way, Shepard. And I don't need your sympathy. Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I've stopped living."

"That's probably the biggest oxymoron I've heard in a long time," she snorted. "And I wasn't offering sympathy. I just thought you'd like a bit of company. I don't know when I'll be back."

"I'm a Spectre, Shepard," he said pointedly. "I'm always alone."

Since there was apparently no convincing him to walk with her towards the port, she turned and set off along the familiar path. Why she couldn't just wake up, she had no idea. And why Nihlus had to be so damned stubborn, she couldn't even guess. If Saren was even half as stubborn as his old student, he was going to be difficult to best.

"Shepard," Nihlus called, and she turned back, looking down at him standing beside the beacon from her elevated position. He seemed smaller, dwarfed by the ancient Prothean artifact. Or perhaps he was simply less imposing and enigmatic, now that she knew him a little better. "There's a turian at Noveria called Lilihierax. We served together, in the military. When you get to Port Hanshan, seek him out. He's always got the best intel about what's happening on the planet, and it's usually accurate."

She nodded her thanks and turned back to the path. If Nihlus was telling the truth, it would prove that her mind hadn't conjured him up. There was no _way_ she could know about a turian on a planet she'd never been to before in her life. Especially not one with such an unusual name. And if this 'Lilihierax' did indeed exist, perhaps he could give her some answers. About Saren, about the geth, about their interest in Noveria... maybe even about her own Spectre mentor.


	23. Unwelcome Guests

Deus Ex Machina

_23. Unwelcome Guests_

When the Normandy was only a few minutes out from Noveria, Ellie, who had dressed in her new armour bought on the Citadel, left her quarters and made her way to the command deck. As usual, it was abuzz with activity, as the ship's bridge crew worked on the Normandy's systems. The main lighting had been dimmed, to give better clarity of the holographic consoles, and at first she managed to enter unnoticed. As soon as Navigator Pressly caught sight of her, however, he made a beeline straight for her.

"We'll be within comm range of the planet shortly, commander," he said, knowing better than to salute her. "You'll be careful down there, won't you? Those Noverians are a suspicious bunch who don't respect outside authority."

"I'm always careful, Pressly," she said.

"Aye, commander," he said doubtfully.

Knowing there was nothing she could do to stop him from unduly worrying, she walked past him and down the length of the CIC, towards the cockpit. When she reached it, she found the door open once more, and Joker looking to be in his usual cheerful mood.

"You ever been to Noveria before, commander?"

"No," she replied. "And it's not exactly on my list of holiday planets, either."

"Can't say that I blame you. Sub-zero temperatures, violent snow-storms, unfriendly locals... glad I don't have to leave the ship."

"Thanks," she said, in her most sarcastic tone. "Glad to see I've got your full support."

"You have my full support at flying the ship. Anderson didn't pick me for my combat skills. Or... you know... my people skills."

"I would never have guessed," she grinned.

Before he could respond, a green light began flashing on the communications console. When Joker pressed his finger against the display, a comm channel opened, and a male voice spoke.

"Unidentified vessel, you are now entering private space," the voice said. "Your arrival was not expected. State your identity and purpose here."

"This is the Alliance ship SSV Normandy, requesting permission to approach and dock," Joker replied, all hint of joviality gone from his voice. He could be serious when the need arose, Ellie realised. "We're on Council business. Got a Spectre onboard."

There was a moment of silence before the voice replied.

"You will proceed to dock six. Be advised that if your vessel's identity cannot be confirmed, it will be impounded, and your crew placed under arrest. Flight out."

"Friendly bunch," Joker quipped.

"Looks like we shouldn't expect a warm welcome," she replied. Leaning forward, she opened the ship-wide internal comm. "Williams, Alenko, Wrex, Garrus, Tali'Zorah and Dr T'Soni please prepare for a mission planet-side."

"Taking the whole team, huh?" Joker said, once the comm was closed. "Are you expecting trouble, or just giving the locals a show of force?"

"A little of both. I'll be down at the weapons lockers," she said. "Let me know when we've docked and depressurised."

"Aye aye, commander," he replied, and turned his attention back to the flight controls.

o - o - o - o - o

Down in the Normandy's cargo hold, Liara T'Soni's hands shook slightly as she took her small pistol from her locker and holstered it on her hip. The armour she had bought on the Citadel chafed at the neck, but she tried to ignore it as best she could. It was a minor inconvenience. Nothing important. Then again, she'd never needed to wear armour before. Her biotic abilities had always been more than enough to keep her safe from the small bands of pirates and looters who'd come sniffing around her dig-sites, hoping to steal Prothean artifacts. From what she knew of Shepard's missions, however, they almost always resulted in somebody coming back injured. All of Shepard's other companions wore armour, even Tali'Zorah, so Liara had decided that she would need some too.

"Nervous?" somebody asked right behind her, causing her to jump in fright. Goddess! If she was this bad now, how much worse was she going to be on the planet?

"Is it that obvious?" she asked, turning around to find Garrus watching her. The rest of the ground-team were assembled near the Mako, waiting for Shepard to arrive.

"Just a bit," he said, though she couldn't tell if he was being serious or joking. She had once been proud that she had spent so long working alone, isolating herself from the unimportant and largely irrelevant petty affairs of the galaxy. Now she was beginning to see her isolation as a handicap. She had no idea how to talk to people, no idea of when they were 'pulling her leg', as she had heard the humans say, and she was realising that the unimportant and largely irrelevant petty affairs of the galaxy weren't that unimportant, irrelevant or petty after all. In fact, many of them were quite pertinent to her own research. Her own life. "You should relax," Garrus continued. "You're not doing yourself any favours by worrying."

"Easy for you to say," she replied. "You've probably done this sort of thing a hundred times. You don't have anything to prove."

"And you do?" he asked, subjecting her to his assessing yellow-eyed gaze.

"I've seen how they look at me," she said, indicating the others who were standing by the Mako, but meaning the whole crew in general. "They avoid me. They don't trust me, and think I'm a liability."

"I'll give you a bit of advice," he said quietly. "Something I learnt a few years ago. You can spend your whole life trying to prove yourself to others, and never make any progress. In the end, the only person you have to prove yourself to, is... yourself. You can't force people to accept you, but as long as you are doing what you believe is right, others will see your conviction, and they'll come around on their own."

"I... suppose you're correct," she said, shaking her head. How was it that the young of the short-lived species were often able to grasp quickly what it took Asari Matriarchs seven or eight hundred years to learn? Three or four generations of Garrus' family would have been born, during her own hundred and six years of life, and some of them had more than likely died of old age. She herself could remember a galaxy in which humans did not exist. And yet, at times, she still felt as if she knew absolutely nothing. Were Asari matriarchs right to consider themselves wise, when shorter-lived species could gain the same amount of wisdom, if not experience, in thirty or forty years?

"Tell me something," she said. "Did Shepard trust _you_ right away, as she did me?"

"Well," he said hesitantly, "more or less. She's quite good at reading people." He chuckled. "Some of her crew think she can read minds."

"That's silly," she agreed. And then she began to wonder. Shepard _was_ suspiciously good guessing what was on peoples' minds. "Isn't it?"

"Of course. Humans can't read minds. Only asari can do that."

"Are you... accusing me of something?"

"Me? Accuse you of something?" His face was a picture of innocence. "Of course not."

"Oh. I'm sorry," she said, glad that, unlike humans, she could not blush. Otherwise the heat in her cheeks would be quite visible. "It sounded a little like an accusation."

"Just stating a fact, doctor."

Before she could reply, the elevator door opened and Shepard stepped out. She was wearing the black and grey light armour that Williams had requisitioned for her on the Citadel, and wore a determined look on her fact that matched the determination in her stride.

"Listen up, everyone," Shepard said, opening up her own locker and taking out her pistol, "we know that geth ships have been sighted in the area, so we can assume that there may be some geth on the planet. Load up with anti-synthetic ammo, but also bring a spare round to use against organics, should the need arise. We don't know what we're going to find down there. For those of you who haven't fought geth before, treat them as you would any organic enemy, but expect them to act with greater intelligence when there are more of them together. Questions?"

There were none, and Shepard tossed a spare round of ammo, one that would be effective against organics, to everybody in the team. Liara caught hers and slipped it into her belt, so that she could change ammunition quickly if required.

"Commander," said Joker over the ship's communication system, "we've just landed at the dock. Clamps have secured the ship aaaand... there's a welcome-party waiting for you."

"Do they look hostile?" Shepard asked.

"Well, they don't look like they've come to invite you for dinner. But there's only three of them, and they don't have their weapons aimed at the ship. Yet."

"Alright. We're going out. I'll contact Normandy with an update as soon as I've had a look around the place."

"Good luck, commander."

When Shepard pressed the button on the wall to lower the cargo ramp, Liara pressed a hand to her stomach, willing it to quiet down. Oh, why did she get nervous at the worst possible moments? None of the others looked nervous, not even Tali'Zorah, who was a mere child! Then again, it was hard to tell just what the quarian was feeling, since she was so well hidden by her suit and mask, but if the way she was casually inspecting her shotgun was anything to go by, she wasn't feeling nervous at all.

As soon as the ramp was low enough, Shepard walked down it and jumped the last two feet to the floor. Everybody else followed her, with Lieutenant Alenko right behind her. Liara watched the young human man as he followed the commander. They'd known each other for years - at least, that's what she'd heard some of the marines aboard the ship say - but she had no idea if there was anything more going on between the pair. If only she'd paid a little more attention to humans, when their species first became known. But by then, she was firmly entrenched in her own studies, caring only for the past and little for the present.

Right behind Lieutenant was Gunnery Chief Williams. The young human woman didn't like Liara - she could sense it immediately. Then again, Ashley didn't seem to care much for any aliens, particularly not Wrex and Garrus. At first, Liara had thought that Williams had an issue with men, since neither Tali'Zorah or Liara herself had been treated with as much disdain by Williams, but she'd watched the woman behaving quite naturally around Lieutenant Alenko, with none of the suspicion and hostility she showed around Wrex and Garrus. In the end, she'd put it down to Williams simply disliking turians and krogans more than she disliked asari and quarians. Not that she could blame the woman, exactly. There was still lingering animosity between the humans and the turians, for the events of the Relay 314 incident. And as far as the krogans went... well, very few people trusted them at all.

Speaking of krogans, Wrex followed close on Williams' heels, as if he knew that his proximity was making the young woman uncomfortable. Liara had to shake her head at that. At his age, he should have known better, but sometimes it seemed as if he actually _liked_ antagonising people, and enjoyed seeing their reactions. He seemed not to care for very much, but he _did_ respect Shepard, and when he wasn't being antagonistic, he was capable of providing deep insights into many subjects. It was a shame more krogan weren't like him.

Behind Wrex came Garrus, his tall, lithe body an opposite of the heavy, muscular krogan he followed. Sometimes it was hard to figure Garrus out. Of all the people aboard the Normandy, he'd been the most friendly to Liara, occasionally stopping to speak to her when he encountered her on the ship, and making an attempt to at least get to know her, and judge her beyond something other than appearances. At first she'd been suspicious of his motives - it was well-known amongst her people that young males of many species had wildly inaccurate ideas about asari - but she'd also seen Garrus chatting affably with both Dr Chakwas and Joker, not to mention Tali'Zorah and Adams. She'd come to the conclusion that even though he'd left C-Sec, he was still, in some way, going through the motions of being an officer, getting to know the people around him so that he could get a feel for where their loyalties lay. And so that he would have a good idea of where to pin the blame if something went wrong.

Tali'Zorah jumped down from the ramp after Garrus, lingering at the rear of the group, watching and listening. The young quarian was, Liara realised, very good at blending into the background and making herself less of a visible presence. It probably came from trying to avoid the hostility many people felt towards the quarians for their reputation as scavengers and thieves. But from everything she had seen, Tali'Zorah seemed to be a dedicated and hard worker. She got on with things without question. If something needed fixing, she fixed it, and didn't call attention to the fact that she'd done so. She was always there, just out of plain sight, working on something, not bothering anybody. Much like Liara herself.

When she realised she was being left behind, she jumped down from the ramp and caught up with the group. Shepard had already stopped in front of the group of people, which comprised of two human women and a turian man, all clad in armour that said ERCS on the chest plate. The leader of the Noverian forces stepped forward, her gloved hand resting on her assault rifle.

"Identify yourselves," the woman said, with a glower for the whole group.

"You first," Shepard said calmly.

"Captain Maeko Matsuo, Elanus Risk Control Services," said the woman, giving a small tilt of her dark head. "We provide security here on Noveria."

"Commander Eloise Shepard, Alliance military," Shepard replied.

"If you require access to Port Hanshan, commander, you will have to relinquish your weapons. We do not allow them on Noveria."

"As a Spectre, I have the authority to carry my weapon with me wherever I go."

"This is a pile of bullshit, Captain," said the second human, a blonde-haired woman with a mean look to her face. "This woman is no more a Spectre than I am."

Shepard shrugged. "You don't have to believe if, if you don't want to. But I'm keeping my weapon. Try to take it from me, if you like."

The commander made a tiny hand-movement, one of the military signals that Liara didn't understand, and immediately Kaidan and Williams had draw their weapons, followed a heartbeat later by Wrex, Tali and Garrus also raising their weapons. Liara reacted instinctively, reaching not with her hand for her gun, but inside herself, for the power lurking within her. She felt the power flowing through her body, and a purple biotic glow enveloped her.

In response, Matsuo and her team raised their own weapons, and the two groups reached an impasse. Remarkably, Liara no longer felt nervous. Instead, she felt... excited! Strange, that she should feel this way when faced with danger. She'd never felt this before. In times past, she had only felt anger. Anger that thieves wanted to steal valuable Prothean artifacts for their own benefit.

"Well," said Shepard, her own weapon still in its holster. "It seems we have a problem."

"Captain Matsuo!" said a woman's voice over a loud-speaker. "Stand down! The commander's identity, and Spectre status, has been confirmed. She and her team may keep their weapons whilst they are here."

_Thank the Goddess,_ Liara thought, as the Noverians lowered their weapons, and the rest of her own colleagues did the same. Reluctantly, she let go of the biotic force she was holding onto, preparing to unleash. The energy and power flowing through her body was almost addictive, but she knew that holding onto a biotic force for too long was lethal. A body could burn itself out pretty quickly, and she hadn't had an overly large meal before leaving the ship. She would have to ration her use of biotic powers... and perhaps learn from Lieutenant Alenko. He was always eating, to give his body the energy it required to produce biotic fields, and he sometimes snacked on high-calorie energy bars too.

"Gianna Parasini will see you," said Matsuo, gesturing to a door behind her.

"So kind of her," Shepard smiled. "Good day, captain." She turned to the blonde-haired woman. "Nice to meet you... Spectre."

The commander ignored the woman's sneer, striding towards the door with everybody else in tow.

"For a moment there I thought we'd have a firefight on our hands," Williams said, sounding almost disappointed by the turn of events.

"Luckily, somebody higher up the chain of command came to their senses," Garrus replied.

"It'd be a shame to come all this way and not get the chance to kill stuff," Wrex grunted.

"You'll get your chance, battlemaster," Shepard replied, stepping through the door.

As they pass through the doorway, they were all subjected to a decontamination screen, and then two hover-drones equipped with mounted assault guns appeared to scan them, emitting a loud warning tone when they detected weapons.

"This can't be good," said Kaidan, as one of the drones scanned him.

"Do you want me to disable them, Shepard?" Tali'Zorah asked.

"That won't be necessary," said a voice further down the corridor. The alarms stopped sounding and the drones retreated. Following the group forward, Liara saw a slim human woman wearing a bright pink dress standing behind what appeared to be a reception desk. A little further down the desk, another human, a man, was consulting a computer console. "They are only weapons-detectors." The woman offered her hand. "Commander Shepard, my name is Gianna Parasini, and I am the secretary to Administrator Anoleis. On behalf of the corporations here I would like to say welcome to Port Hanshan. And on behalf of the corporations here, I would like to remind you that we do not like outside interference. The companies here pay well for their privacy, and if you insist on carrying out in-depth investigations, you could make a lot of powerful people angry."

"I'm not here to make people angry, Ms Parasini," Shepard said, shaking the woman's proffered hand. Liara breathed a quiet sigh of relief. As a Spectre, Shepard technically had the authority to do whatever was necessary to preserve galactic peace, and if she wanted to look into the operations of major companies, very little would stop her. She still didn't know Shepard, or humans in general, well enough to know how they thought. For all she knew, Shepard would have delighted in annoying rich and powerful people. "You have my word as an Alliance officer and as a Spectre that I will keep my investigations here strictly to a minimum, and I won't pursue anything that doesn't relate to my case."

"May I ask what your case involves?" the secretary asked.

Shepard merely smiled, answering the question with a question. "Have you had any unscheduled or unusual visitors to Noveria? Other than myself, of course."

"Why... yes," Gianna replied. There was only a minor hint of apprehension as she spoke. "An asari matriarch arrived several days ago. Matriarch Benezia."

Liara felt her heart beat faster at the mention of her mother's name. She was _here_. On Noveria. In Port Hanshan. Though it had been decades since Liara had spoken to her mother, she always felt like a little girl in the presence of the much-older woman. Funny, how being near other Matriarchs didn't make her feel that way.

"Good," Shepard said. "I need to speak with her immediately. Where is she?"

"I'm afraid Matriarch Benezia left for Peak 15 before the blizzard hit."

"What's at Peak 15?" Garrus asked.

"The research lab of Binary Helix."

"The genetics company?" said Kaidan. "What would Benezia want with them?"

"I don't know," Liara said. "She never mentioned them to me before. Though she does have a keen financial and political mind. It's possible that she has shares in the company, as well as in many others."

"Was Benezia alone when she arrived?" Shepard asked. "Was there a turian with her? A Spectre by the name of Saren Arterius?"

"No," said Gianna. "She was in the company of asari commandos. But she did say that she had come on behalf of Saren, to investigate a matter at Peak 15. That was... just before we received the lock-down command."

"Lock-down?"

"Yes. Peak 15's last transmission merely stated that they were having technical difficulties and had initiated lock-down procedures. It's like quarantine. Nothing goes in or out until the word comes from Peak 15 that the difficulties have been rectified."

"I'm thinking plague," said Williams immediately. "A genetics research company suddenly initiates an emergency quarantine of its entire research lab? What else could they be doing up there, if not bio-weapons?"

"What happens if Peak 15 _doesn't_ give the word that the situation is under control?" Shepard asked Gianna.

"The facility will be cleansed."

"I know what that means," Kaidan said darkly.

Shepard put her hands on the counter, leaning forward to look Gianna Parasini in the eye. It was a confrontational gesture, and Liara found herself wondering, once again, how far the commander would go to complete her mission.

"I'm going to Peak 15 regardless of any lock-down," she said.

"If you want to leave Port Hanshan, you'll have to get permission from Administrator Anoleis," said Gianna.

"And I can find him where?"

"In his office, on the ground floor. You may proceed into the building and speak with him if you wish. I'll wait for you in his reception."

Parasini left through a door at the rear of the desk area, and the human male gestured for them to proceed. Further down the hallway was an elevator, which would no doubt take them down to the ground floor.

"Shepard," Liara called, waiting for the commander to turn and look at her. "Could I speak with you for a moment?"

"You guys go on ahead," she told the rest of the team. "Hold the elevator for us."

When everybody else had disappeared, Liara stepped towards Shepard, unsure of how to begin.

"I suppose you'll want to talk to me about my mother?" she asked.

"Has anything changed since we last spoke about her?" Shepard returned.

"Well... she's here. Now. I know you must have... doubts."

"Liara, you may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I know you're on our side," Shepard said, offering a reassuring smile.

"Yes. I am. I just wanted you to know what."

"You're feeling nervous about seeing your mother again, aren't you?"

She nodded, wondering if there might, after all, be some measure of truth in the Normandy crew's mind-reading theory.

"Benezia never truly approved of my vocation," she told the Spectre. "I think she wanted me to follow in her footsteps, not become some bookish scholar."

"Everything has its place," Shepard said, her gaze slightly unfocused. Then her steely blue eyes became focused once more. "We humans have a saying: 'we'll cross that bridge when we come to it'. It means, for now, don't worry. We'll see what your mother has to say for herself when we catch up with her. Until then, let's concentrate on the mission."

"Right," she said, feeling her spirits rise. She couldn't let thoughts of her mother distract her. Not now. This was the first mission she'd been allowed to come on, and she couldn't let Shepard down. She couldn't let _herself_ down.

o - o - o - o - o

When the elevator stopped descending, and the pleasant automated voice had finished welcoming them to Port Hanshan and asking them to mind their own business, Ellie was the first to step out of the lift. She didn't truly know what she had been expecting, but it wasn't the huge, open-plan area decorated with boulders and sedate water features. The paths were wide enough for four people to walk abreast, and the whole place seemed to be carved out of rock. Outside the window, a blizzard raged, the sunlight barely making it through the dense snow. That the windows hadn't been buried in drifts of the stuff attested the fact that they were well-heated, just like the rest of the room. Just up ahead, attached to one of the large boulders, were signs in various different languages, pointing towards areas of the Port. Words like 'garage', 'bar', 'shops' and 'Administrator's Office' were written in English, the de facto Alliance language, as well as one of the more common asari scripts, as well as salarian and turian.

"This seems pleasant enough," Garrus said, looking around at the decor. "If rocks are your sort of thing."

Tali gave a shudder. "I hope I never have to see rocks ever again."

"Looks like this place is even deader than the Presidium," Wrex said. His eyes were scanning the locals, most of them sedately-dressed humans, asari, salarians.

"There are a hell of a lot of guards here," Ashley pointed out. And indeed, it did seem that every few paces or so, another guard was stationed. The majority of them seemed to be turians and humans, but if C-Sec was anything to go by, that was hardly surprising. Most of Citadel Security's forces were turians and humans too. Probably something about those species, Ellie mused briefly, that made them more inclined to take jobs in law enforcement.

"Maybe they're expecting a storm," said Liara. "Other than the one outside, of course."

"Judging by how many guards there are," said Kaidan, his brown eyes scanning the entire room, "I'd say the storm's already here."

"I hope they didn't go to all this trouble just for me," Ellie said. Then she stepped forward and turned around to address her team. It was time for business. "Garrus, I'd like you to talk to some of these ERCS guards. See if any of them can tell you what's going on around here. Wrex, head to the bar. Get a drink. Listen to what people are saying. Kaidan, Tali, go and see what the local shop-keepers have on offer. See if any of them have seen Benezia pass through. Williams, Liara, you're with me. We're going to pay the Administrator a visit."

The group split up into different directions, and Ellie led her small team in the direction the signs indicated. The door to Anoleis' office was easy enough to the find. It was the only one guarded by two heavily-armed turian ERCS guards. Either the Administrator was paranoid, or he had reason to believe somebody might want to hurt him. Regardless, the guards gave her a brief look and let her pass without question, not even attempting to take her weapons. Most likely they'd heard that a human Spectre was in Port Hanshan, and didn't want to try disarming her. A wise choice, considering she was the long arm of the Citadel Council's law out here. A law that she could enforce, ignore, or completely change at her own will. It was a heady thought.

Once she passed through the door she found herself in a needlessly large waiting area which had nobody inside it, and another door at the far side of the room. This one wasn't guarded, and when she opened it, she found herself in a much smaller room with a reception counter, behind which Gianna Parasini sat. With Liara and Ashley right behind her, she approached the desk.

"Commander," said Gianna. "I'm glad you didn't waste any time coming here."

"The mission I'm on is very important, and I'm not in the habit of wasting time," she told the secretary.

"Apparently not. I will check that the Administrator is free to see you now." The woman pressed a comm button on her desk. "Administrator Anoleis, Commander Shepard is here to see you."

"Who?"

"The Council Spectre who recently arrived. She would like to see you now."

"Yes, yes, send her in." The voice sounded hurried.

"As you heard, you are free to enter," said Gianna. She gestured towards a door at the opposite side of the room. "I hope that you find your talk with the Administrator... illuminating."

She had no time to consider the secretary's cryptic words. With the Administrator waiting, and her team-members right behind her, she opened the door and stepped into the room. It came as no surprise that Anoleis was a salarian. There was something about their voices which made them almost instantly recognisable. Unlike the males of most species, salarian male voices were not deep. Williams claimed previously they all sounded like they'd been inhaling helium, and though it seemed like a somewhat offensive comparison, Ellie was forced to agree. It wasn't helped by the fact that salarians spoke _far_ too quickly, an unfortunate side-effect of their incredibly fast metabolism. Short life-spans and rapid speech were the price the species paid for enhanced cognitive abilities. The average salarian could expect to live only forty years, and the females spent most of their lives on their home-worlds, governing the politics of the species and ensuring its survival by producing eggs at regular intervals.

Anoleis glanced up briefly when she entered, then returned his attention to his computer console, his hands moving rapidly over the holographic keyboard.

"Make this quick, human," he said. "I have better things to do than talk with primates from that stink-hole of a planet called Earth."

Almost _hearing_ Ashley open her mouth in protest of the insult, Shepard raised her hand to stall the younger woman. Everybody was entitled to their opinion, of course, and it was more than likely Anoleis had never even been near Sol, much less been to Earth.

"I have business with Matriarch Benezia," she told him. "I need to speak with her immediately."

"As my secretary has no doubt already told you," he sighed, "Lady Benezia took her staff and her cargo up to Peak 15 shortly before we received the lock-down command from the facility."

"Cargo? What cargo?"

"Crates for holding things."

"What sorts of things."

"I don't know, and it's not my business to know," he said sourly. "They were scanned, and no trace of weapons detected. Beyond that, it is not my concern."

"I would have thought the security of this base to be of grave concern to you," Liara spoke up.

"The security is the concern of Elanus Risk Control. If they can't police the facility, a new contractor can be brought in easily enough."

"Matriarch Benezia is working with a rogue Spectre named Saren Arterius," Ellie said, grinding her teeth with impatience.

"I know that Lady Benezia is working for Spectre Saren," he replied, glancing up at her again. "She came here as his executor, to sort out some of Binary Helix's affairs. They're both major investors, and it is well within their right to visit the company."

"They were responsible for the geth attacks on Eden Prime!" Ash said angrily. Little pink spots had appeared in her cheeks, showing just how irate she was.

"Interesting," said Anoleis, sounding anything but. "But it is of no concern of mine. What investors get upto in their spare time is their business."

"Fine," Ellie said, mustering as much patience as she could. Sadly, she lacked Kaidan's supply of it. "Just give me permission to go to Peak 15 and I'll deal with the situation myself. You won't hear another peep out of us."

"Can't do," the salarian replied, holding up a finger on his left hand. "One, there is a blizzard outside." His second finger joined the first. "Two, Peak 15 is in lock-down. I don't know what's happened up there, but access is too dangerous until the situation is controlled." He raised his thumb. "Three, our corporations come here for their privacy, not to have their personal affairs invaded by nosy busy-bodies."

"I'm here on Council business!"

"We are outside Council space. The Council has no jurisdiction here. We tolerate your presence, Spectre. Do not make a nuisance of yourself, or we will impound your vehicle for good."

"Commander, we are wasting our time here," Liara whispered in her ear.

"I'll be seeing you later, Administrator," Shepard said, agreeing with Liara. This bureaucrat wasn't going to help them get to Peak 15 unless she bribed him or threatened him, and neither of those actions were particularly befitting of an Alliance officer. Turning, she left Anoleis' office, stepping back into the reception.

"What a colossal jerk!" Ash said, thumping her fist into her hand in lieu of thumping it into the Administrator's head.

"I take it your meeting did not go well?" Gianna asked.

"You could say that," Liara replied.

The secretary made a beckoning motion with her hand. Curious, Ellie stepped closer to her, and the secretary leant forwards to speak in a hushed voice.

"Administrator Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to the Port's garage," she whispered. "Speak to Lorik Qui'in, in the hotel bar. He may be able to help you."

"Who's he?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't say any more with the Administrator so close." Parasini straightened up, and raised her voice once more. "I'm sorry the Administrator wasn't able to help you, commander. Good day."

Once they were safely outside the office, and well away from the turian guards, Ellie took a seat on one of the benches in front of a boulder-and-water feature, and considered everything that she knew. Benezia was here, openly acting on Saren's behalf. They were both investors in Binary Helix, and Benezia had come to deal with a 'problem', which had apparently then caused the research lab to go into lock-down. Could Ash be right? Were Benezia and Saren directing the genetics company to create some sort of targetted gene weapons? If so, she had no doubts about who it would be tailored for. Saren was no friend of humanity.

After a few minutes of introspective thought, Kaidan and Tali reappeared, followed shortly after by Garrus. None of them had good news to report.

"The merchants here have all been advised not to speak to the Spectre, or her entourage," said Tali. "They were willing enough to buy and sell, but trying to get information from them was like trying to give a varren a worming tablet."

"They just started clamming up and looking nervous whenever we asked about Benezia or Peak 15," Kaidan elaborated. "They'd do this shifty-eyed thing, as if afraid somebody was watching. Well, except the hanar merchant, of course. They don't have eyes."

"The guards were pretty much the same," Garrus confirmed. "They were willing enough to say that Benezia had gone through with a group of asari commandos, but none of them go to Peak 15, and of the rumours they've heard, they weren't willing to tell."

"Alright," Ellie sighed. "Kaidan, Tali, go wait with Wrex in the bar. See if you can find somebody called 'Lorik Qui'in', but don't approach him yet. I'll need to speak to him soon. Garrus, see if you can get one of those guards to tell you where we might find Lilihierax."

All three disappeared again, Tali and Kaidan heading in the direction of the local hotel bar, and Garrus moving off towards one of the guards.

"I did not expect to encounter so much difficulty," Liara said. There were equal measures of frustration and disappointment in her voice.

"What's to stop us from just taking a vehicle and going there?" Ashley asked. "You're a Spectre. You can go anywhere and do anything."

"In theory, Chief," Ellie replied. "In reality, they have more guns than we do. Bigger guns, too. I get the feeling that being a Spectre doesn't just involve going in and ordering people to do your bidding. I think you have to be... sneakier than that."

"I'm terrible at being sneaky. I prefer a good, honest firefight."

"Leave the sneakiness to me," she said. "I've had more experience of it."

"Shepard," said Garrus, returning from behind her. "I've discovered that Lilihierax is one of the mechanics here. He can probably be found near the garage."

"Great," she said, pushing herself to her feet. "Let's go."

"Just out of curiosity," he said, following her along with Liara and Williams, "how did you know there would be a turian mechanic called Lilihierax here?"

"Ahh, Spectre's secrets," she replied, tapping her nose.

They wandered down the length of the huge room, subjects of the stares and surreptitious glances of the locals. Most of them did not look at all pleased to have a Spectre walking amongst them, but her status was the _only_ reason she was allowed here. Without it, the Normandy would never have been allowed to dock, and they'd still be sitting in orbit above the planet, looking down wistfully at its snowy atmosphere. Not that she wouldn't have preferred to be aboard the Normandy right now, but she had a job to do.

Lilihierax, when she found him, was a turian without any facial markings to identify his home colony. He was a little shorter than Garrus, but she had no idea how old he was. It was far too hard to discern turian age, because their facial carapaces did not age like skin did. Still, if he'd served with Nihlus in the military, he was probably a good few years older than Garrus.

"Excuse me," she said, waiting for him to put down a tool he was adjusting, "are you Lilihierax?"

"Yeah," he said, in deep gravelly voice. "Not many humans can pronounce it, though. Most people call me Li. You're the Spectre, right?"

"My reputation precedes me, it seems," she replied.

"Well, I saw your ship dock. Not hard to figure out who was on it. Besides, I'd heard that the first human Spectre was... hmm, how to put it." He growled a couple of words in the turian language at Garrus, who snorted in amusement and shook his head. "Anyway, what can I do for you, Spectre?"

"I was told you might be able to help me," she said, making a mental note to quiz Garrus later on what Li had said. "I was told you're a person who always knows what's going on, and might not be averted to clueing me in about what's happening around here."

"Well, if you want info, you've come to the right place. Too many folks around here are scientists and corporation big-wigs who don't open their mouths out of fear of being sued. Sometimes I miss some good honest conversation. But who's been flapping their mandibles about me? It's not like my name appears high on the Port Hanshan VIP list."

"A man you once served with in the military," she replied. "Nihlus Kryik."

"Ha!" he barked. "And how's the old battle-varren doing?"

"Well, he's dead," she said, feeling suddenly awkward.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear about that," Li said. From what she had learnt of turian body-language, he genuinely was sorry. "He stopped here a couple of years ago. Council business, just like you. I bought him a drink in the bar, we reminisced about the good old days. Haven't spoken to him since, but I promised him I'd buy him another drink the next time he stopped by."

"Did you know him well?" she asked.

"About as well as anybody could know Nihlus. He was always a loner," Li admitted. "Clever as hell, and brave too, but not big with his superiors. They thought his plans were reckless, and he often broke procedure. Didn't help that he usually ended up on top, saving the day. In the military, there is the right way of doing things, and the right way of doing things. And Nihlus never did things the right way. He was just a young man when he was assigned to the ship I was working on. Chief engineer, by the way. Fifteen years on the run. Got a few commendations for my work."

"Congratulations," she smiled.

"Thanks. Course, that was much harder than all of this," he scoffed, gesturing at the closed garage door. "Anyway, Nihlus. The other soldiers didn't include him all that much. I think they sensed that he wasn't that interested in socialising and bonding with them, and he avoided them as much as they avoided him. Sometimes he'd come down to engineering for a bit of piece and quiet. Not that I gave him much chance for that, but he listened politely enough to my old war stories. Then one day he got snapped up by a Spectre, and I didn't see him again after that, until two years ago. I suppose he was your mentor, was he? For the Spectres?"

"Yes," she said. It didn't matter to her that he'd died before being able to properly fulfill that role. He was still her mentor, and she was going to do him proud. Or die trying.

"Glad to hear. He was a good man. So he sent you to me to ask about... what exactly?"

"I need to get up to Peak 15," she said.

"Ooh," he tutted, shaking his head. "Sorry, can't help you there. Garage pass usage is recorded. If I let you in, my head would roll. Literally. I hear Anoleis keeps a huge knife in his desk drawer for just that purpose. Of course, he'd have a hard time cutting through a turian neck with a knife. Perhaps he has an axe," he mused.

"Thanks, but I don't need your help," she assured him. "I heard on the grapevine that Lorik Qui'in might be able or willing to help me. What do you know about him."

"Heh, you heard about that, did you?" he asked, his eyes showing his amusement far more than his face did.

"Haven't heard a thing. What is there to know?"

"Well, Qui'in's the overseer for Synthetic Insights, one of the companies operating out of Port Hanshan. In fact, that's their elevator door there," he said, gesturing to a door set further back down the corridor. "Or at least, he _was_ the overseer. Anoleis shut the office down, accusing Qui'in of 'corruption'. Since then, Qui'in's been drowning his woes in the bar. Well, it's not what _I'd_ call drowning his woes... he's not drinking nearly fast enough for that. But I suppose he doesn't need to go for speed, since he has all the time in Noveria on his hands now."

"Do you know Qui'in well?" she asked him.

"Not really. I try to keep out of the way of the big corporation execs. But he's polite enough, always says hello when he passes me in the corridor. Sensible fellow, from what I hear. That's why the whole corruption thing is such a surprise. It's hard for people to believe Qui'in's corrupt. He's just not the type. Too honest and hard-working."

"And what about Peak 15? Do you know anything about what's going on up there?"

"I've heard a thing or two," he said evasively. "For example, an asari Matriarch was on her way up there when we received a lock-down confirmation."

"Wait a minute," said Liara, "she was on her way there? I thought she had already arrived by the time the lock-down was initiated?"

"Nope," Li said cheerfully. "I track all vehicle movements from the console in the garage. The Matriarch's vehicle was only half-way to the lab when the confirmation came through. Whatever she wants up there, she must want it pretty bad, because she ignored protocol. Even increased her speed to get there faster."

"Do you know what was being researched at Peak 15?" Ash asked. "For example... potential bio-weapons?"

"I have no idea what any of the companies do in their own labs. But bio-weapons? I doubt it. If you were an asari Matriarch, would _you_ go rushing into a facility that had possible containment issues if it was making bio-weapons? I can tell you this, those asari weren't kitted out with hazmat suits. Whatever's going on up there, they weren't afraid of breathing without helmets. Unless, of course, that's what was in the cargo crates."

"And how many commandos were there?"

"I saw a dozen. But I have no idea if there were already asari at Peak 15 waiting for her."

"Right," she said. So. One Matriarch, at least half a dozen commandos, and one completely unknown situation. "Thanks very much for the info, Li. You've been a big help."

"No problem. Hey, I suppose now that Nihlus has passed on, I probably owe his next drink to you, huh?"

"Um..."

"Let me know when you're back from Peak 15 and I'll make sure we share a drink in memory of Nihlus. That is, if you're not already... busy," he said, with the closest thing to a grin she had ever seen from a turian.

"I'll see if I have time, but I make no promises," she said.

"Not sure I'd believe a Spectre who made promises anyway. Good luck with your mission."

"Thanks."

She left Li to his diagnostics and led her small team back into the main hall, for wont of a better word. Consulting a sign, she started off in the direction of the bar. Whatever was going on up at Peak 15 clearly ran deep, if Benezia was willing to enter a potentially dangerous situation to get into the facility. And Ellie wasn't the only one who thought so.

"This place is full of lies and deception," Liara said, glancing around as if fearful of being watched. "I get the feeling nothing is as it seems here."

"Have much experience of lies and deception, do you?" Ash asked, and Ellie could have thumped her for it.

"Not personally, no," said Liara, apparently taking the question as a serious inquiry. "It is more a feeling, that things are being hidden. Important things."

"I think we all feel that," she said, stopping by the hotel elevator and pressing the call button. Then she turned to Garrus. "Speaking of which, what did Li say back there?"

"Oh... the meaning is mostly lost in the translation," he said uncomfortably as his eyes flickered briefly towards Liara.

The elevator arrived and the door opened. Ellie stopped Garrus from getting in with a firm hand on the chest-plate of his armour. "Ashley, Liara, please wait for us in the bar with the others," she said sweetly. When the two women had gotten into the elevator and the door had closed, she folded her arms across her chest and subjected the turian to her best stern glare.

"Really, Shepard, it doesn't translate well," he insisted.

"Then translate badly."

"And even if it did translate, you wouldn't like it. You probably don't want to know."

"Are you kidding? Something that makes you _this_ uncomfortable? Of course I want to know."

"It doesn't make _me_ uncomfortable!" he huffed indignantly. "But fine, if you want it. Just remember, I'm only the translator. If it pisses you off, don't get mad at me."

"I won't get mad," she said, hitting the call button again once the elevator indicated it was on the floor above.

"Hmm, let me see," he said, scratching the forehead of his carapace with a long clawed finger. "I suppose the most literal translation would be 'lacking only blue paint'."

"I don't understand."

"I told you it didn't translate."

"What does it mean?"

He gave a snort of amusement and stepped into the open elevator. "You don't need me to spell it out for you, Shepard."

"Humour me," she said flatly. Clearly somebody was having a joke at her expense - a joke that was going _way_ over her head. And she didn't like jokes that went over her head. Especially when they pertained to her.

"Well, think about it. What non-turian aliens are blue?"

"Asari, of course."

"And how do most people see asari?"

She gave it a moment of consideration, and a whole host of words jumped into her mind. Wise, patient, long-lived, accepting...

"Most people who aren't _you_, Shepard," Garrus amended. Then he sighed. "Most men."

"Oh," she said, as a memory of scantily clad asari dancers surrounded by drooling men in Chora's Den popped into her mind. "_That's_ not how people see me, is it?" she demanded indignantly.

"I thought you weren't going to get mad? Besides," he said, as she stepped into the elevator still fuming, "there are worse things to be compared to than asari. And I doubt you'd be compared to them at all if you weren't roughly asari-shaped."

"I'm not asari shaped, I'm me-shaped! But," she admitted, "I suppose you're right. There are worse things to be compared to. For example, if Li had said that I was missing a crest or another pair of eyes, I'd be down there right now giving him a piece of my mind."

"Ah. That would probably make things worse."

"How so?" she asked, pressing the elevator button for the hotel floor.

"Turian men like strong women. It comes from having both genders learn to fight alongside each other in the military. No such thing as a turian civilian, so the saying goes," he explained. "At any rate, giving Li a piece of your mind... or anything else, for that matter... would give him completely the wrong signals and indicate that you were... interested."

"Huh," she said thoughtfully. "They didn't cover any of this in my officer-exchange training program."

"Shame you didn't get to do that," he said. "Maybe we would have ended up on the same ship."

"We _did_ end up on the same ship," she pointed out.

"Heh. True."

In the slightly uncomfortable silence that followed, she considered once more how different her life would be if she hadn't been pulled out of the exchange program in favour of fighting the batarians. It was becoming increasingly clear to her that her training program would have given her the basics, but would have missed out on so much important information, such as the fact that asari considered mating with their own species a social taboo, and turian men liked strong women. She wondered what salarian misconceptions she might be subjected to in the future.

"So," Garrus said, "did Nihlus tell you to speak to Lilihierax on Noveria before he died, or after?"

"After," she said, her mind still on the training program. Then she realised what she said, and cursed herself for not paying more attention. "I mean before. Obviously."

"Obviously," he said, sounding incredibly skeptical.

The elevator door opened and she stepped out into the bar, which, as she had feared, was playing terrible music. At least here the music was fairly quiet, however, not reaching anywhere near the torturous levels of Chora's Den and Flux. Putting aside thoughts of her conversation with Garrus, she quickly located her friends, who were sitting at a table, and joined them. Wrex was surrounded by several empty glasses, whilst Kaidan had a simple glass of water - or else well-concealed vodka - and the rest of the group had gone without.

"Shepard," Wrex said.

"Wrex," she replied. "What have you heard?"

"Mostly talk about business and corporations and stuff. Hardly interesting. A few people have been talking about Binary Helix, speculating about what might have gone on up there."

"What are they saying?"

"Pretty much everything you can imagine. That Binary Helix are trying to cure the genophage, and the Matriarch's gone up there to stop them. That BH is trying to create bio-weapons to use against the turians, and the Matriarch's gone to see how it's progressing. That BH is secretly harbouring a biotic training camp designed to test new L4 implants. My favourite is that they found some remnants of Prothean DNA and are secretly cloning a whole civilisation of Protheans up there. Take your pick, really."

"My money's still on the bio-weapons," said Williams.

"Did you find out where Lorik Qui'in is?" she asked Kaidan.

He nodded to a turian who was sitting alone at a table with a glass in front of him. "That's your guy over there."

"Great. I'll go and speak to him about getting access to the garage. Back in a moment."

She left her friends - realising for the first time that's what they _were_ now - and crossed the room, standing in front of the table were Lorik Qui'in was doing a terrible job of drowning his woes. A large turian with an impressive series of white tattoos on his grey face, he glanced up as she approached.

"So, my situation finally warrants a visit from the Spectre, does it?" He opened his arms wide. "Take a good look at whatever you like, Spectre. I have nothing to hide."

"I'm not here about your... situation," she said, taking the seat opposite him. "I'm here because I have business up at Peak 15 and no way to get there. I was told you have a garage pass that you might be willing to part with. Or at least loan me."

"I do have a garage pass," he said. "But its use won't come free."

"How much do you want?" she asked, mentally trying to tally up the amount of credits she could quickly gain access to.

"I don't want credits, Spectre, I want your services."

"I am not a mercenary," she said firmly. "I am an Alliance soldier."

"If I wanted a mercenary," he snorted, with a glance at her friends, "I would hire your pet krogan." Ellie was extremely glad that Wrex was out of hearing range for that one. "No, what I want is justice. I want my name cleared, and the honour that Anoleis stole from me restored."

"He accused you of corruption, didn't he?" she asked, recalling what Li had told her.

"Yes. And what a coincidence that the accusation came mere hours after I discovered evidence of his own corruption."

"What sort of corruption are we talking about?"

"The fact that Anoleis is now a much richer man since he became Administrator."

"You think he's skimming credits?"

"Skimming would be putting it lightly," he said angrily. "When rent and taxes for SI went up, I began doing a little investigating, and realised that _all_ corporation rents and taxes had gone up. And yet we've seen no change to our services. At the same time, Anoleis _mysteriously_ came into a large sum of credits. It doesn't take a salarian scientist to put two and two together."

"Why haven't you been to the authorities with this evidence?" she asked.

"I was going to," he said, schooling his voice to patience. He took a sip of his drink before continuing. "Before I got the chance, Anoleis swooped, ordering ERCS guards to close down my office and toss me out. Even now, heavily armed thugs - guards who are on the take without their boss, Matsuo, realising it - are ransacking my office looking for the information to take back to Anoleis. You're a Spectre. You must be smart. I'm sure you can see where this is going."

"You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours," she said, and he gave her a blank look. It was only after she said it that she realised that for turians, who possessed long claws on the ends of each finger and toe, back-scratching taken out of context might have... connotations. "It's a human expression," she elaborated quickly. "A favour for a favour. I'll recover the evidence from your office, if you let me use your garage pass."

"It's a deal, Spectre," he said. He reached into his coat pocket and drew out a small storage disc. "This OSD is encrypted with all the security data you require to access the evidence. Just put it into my office computer and it will extract all the information I've gathered automatically. As I mentioned, the ERCS guards are on the take, so they probably won't listen to reason. I expect you'll have to use violence, but please try to avoid getting blood stains on the carpets if at all possible."

"I'll see what I can do," she said, accepting the disc. As far as she was concerned, the less bloodshed, the better. She was hoping to talk her way through the guards, possibly by intimating that opposing a Spectre might land them some hefty jail-time.

"You'll need this access card to get into my office," he said, handing his card over. "Good luck, Spectre. You know where you'll find me."

She left him alone and returned to her friends, taking her former seat and setting both the card and the OSD on the table.

"How did it go?" Kaidan asked.

"Anoleis is crooked, and bribing dirty ERCS guards into shaking down Qui'in's office for incriminating evidence that he doesn't want to see the light of day. We're going to recover the evidence for Qui'in so he can submit it to whoever's in charge of what passes for justice here, and then he's going to give us his garage pass to use, so that we can get to Peak 15. Who's up for a recon mission?" she asked, knowing there would be no shortage of volunteers.

o - o - o - o - o

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya's finger twitched on the trigger of her shotgun. From her hiding place behind a large planter, she kept a close eye on the ground below. Further along the balcony, Wrex was covering the staircase, whilst Ashley was hiding behind a small pile of crates, ready to ambush should the need arise. Most of the ERCS guards turning the SI office upside down had been hostile, not even giving Shepard chance to talk before attacking on sight. How could they live in such a way? Violence was not unheard of in the Migrant Fleet, but it was always a last resort, a symptom of the desperate or the insane. Having to shoot organics, kill them, still affected her, even though she knew that they would kill her without hesitation. Not a violent person by nature, she had been shocked at how Fist's men had treated her, and disappointed by how quickly other races seemed capable of turning on each other, all for a little profit.

Through the purple polymer of her visor she watched as, in the office behind her, Shepard inserted the OSD into the turian's computer. Kaidan was watching on, hiding his nerves well. Liara was not doing quite as good a job as the human; she paced the office with her hands behind her back, clearly impatient to be getting on with the mission. Garrus, meanwhile, was standing guard outside the office, using his sniper rifle to get a closer view of the entire room, checking for movement.

She was glad Shepard had saved her from Fist's men in time. Of all the ways to end her pilgrimage, being captured or killed by hired thugs was not the way she had hoped for, or even expected. Then again, neither was being given permission to stay aboard a top of the line Alliance prototype warship, and being given a chance to search for something of value to take back whilst travelling with the Normandy's crew.

They weren't a bad crew, really. Some of them were even nice. Adams had brought her a bunch of flowers whilst she had been in Doctor Michel's medical clinic. She almost blushed at the memory. But of course, she was being silly. Adams was just being polite, and caring. Though he liked her and appreciated her for her engineering skills, it was nothing more than that. Admittedly, her people knew very little about humans - they were such newcomers to the galaxy, whereas the quarians had been active in space for hundreds of years. Perhaps, she thought, it would be best to check with Shepard, and make sure she wasn't supposed to offer some sort of reciprocal guesture back to Adams, for the flowers. The last thing she wanted to do was make some sort of inter-species mistake about social customs.

At the thought of Shepard, she turned her head again to observe the woman at the console. Her face was a mask of calm and patience as she waited for the OSD to execute its program. Shepard was a good leader, Tali'Zorah thought. At times it seemed she thought more with her heart than with her head, but that wasn't necessarily a bad trait. She clearly had a keen mind, though it was more suited to tasks of engineering and puzzle-solving than it was towards tactical efforts. In quarian terms, she suspected Shepard would make a good ship captain; brave, noble, and able to inspire her crew to feats of greatness. But she might not make the best admiral, because she didn't like being faced with difficult decisions. An admiral had to do whatever it took to ensure the survival of the people, no matter the cost to himself. That was something she had learnt from her father, and it was a quality Shepard seemed to share. She was always there first, putting herself into dangerous situations. She didn't lack for courage. But an admiral also had to take responsibility for his actions, and be able to live with the consequences of those actions. That was something Shepard seemed to struggle with.

"Movement," said Wrex over his suit's comm.

Peering around the side of the planter, she saw that he was correct. Several ERCS guards had entered the room, led by the blonde-haired woman who had accused Shepard of lying. As if Shepard would stoop that low! Shepard was no liar, and the thought of the accusations made Tali angry on Shepard's behalf.

"Better make this quick, Shepard," Wrex said. "So far they're just checking the dead for any survivors, but it's only going to be so long before they follow the trail of bodies up here."

"The disc's only twenty-percent complete," Shepard replied. "I need more time."

"Want me to start picking them off?" Garrus asked, the scope of his sniper rifle raised to the level of his eye.

"No. Let me know when they're coming up the stairs, and I'll try to speak to them."

"Because that worked _so_ well last time," said Kaidan. It was strange, to hear him criticise Shepard, because the two were normally quite close.

"If at first you don't succeed, Lieutenant," Shepard said.

"Shepard, they're coming up the stairs," Wrex warned.

"Alright, I'm on my way. Kaidan, Liara, stay here and keep an eye on the console. As soon as it's at one hundred percent, pull the disc. I'll try to keep these guys busy until then."

Tali heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and then Shepard was beside her, watching the stairs like a hawk. The moment the blonde woman and the handful of ERCS guards appeared, Shepard stepped out from behind the planter, her hands up and facing palm-outwards, showing that she hid no weapons.

"Commander Shepard," the blonde woman scowled. "When I got reports of the sound of gunshots coming from the SI office, my first thought was of you. But I must admit, I didn't think you'd resort to cop-killing just to break in here and steal whatever it is you're after."

"I didn't break in," Shepard said calmly, "Lorik Qui'in gave me his access card and asked me to look into a personal matter for him. When I got here I found these guards, and they attacked me on sight. They were on the take. Looking for something."

"Even if I believed your story, it wouldn't matter," the woman sneered. It made her look very ugly, Tali thought. "Do you know what we do to cop-killers on Noveria?"

"I'm giving you the chance to walk away," Shepard said.

"And I'm giving you the chance to die," hissed the woman. A purple biotic glow sprang up around her, and Shepard quickly ducked behind Ashley's hiding place. As the ERCS guards grabbed their weapons, Wrex and Ashley appeared from cover and began shooting at the guards, whilst Garrus fired his rifle at one of the guards who went down and never got up again.

Tali reached instinctively for her omni-tool, calling up a program to dampen the effects of biotic fields in the area around the guards. From the corner of her eye she saw Shepard do the same, only the commander's program was one used to sabotage enemy weapons. The moment Tali executed her program, the blonde woman screamed angrily and began firing her assault rifle at the planter. Ducking back behind it, Tali closed her eyes, and waited for the sound of bullets hitting the planter to cease.

Suddenly, Liara was standing outside the room, surrounded by a biotic field of her own. She forced it into a singularity, which she sent into the middle of the cluster of guards, and they began to panic as they were drawn towards it against their will. It made them easier to shoot, and as they tried to drag themselves away from the biotic field, the rest of Shepard's team continued firing. Before too long, there was silence.

"If those guys were cops," said Garrus, lowering his rifle, "I'm the Primarch of Palaven. Real cops don't work for private companies."

"Ugh. Not another speech about your glory days at C-Sec," Wrex grumbled. He didn't lower his gun, instead eyeing the twitching corpses warily.

"No speech. Just fact."

"I've got the disc," Kaidan said, appearing from Lorik's office with the OSD in his hand.

"Take good care of that," Shepard told him. "It's our ticket to Peak 15."

"As well as evidence to condemn a corrupt official," Liara pointed out.

"Yeah. That too. Come on, let's get out of here," Shepard said.

Tali followed as Shepard led the way down the stairs. She tried her best to ignore the bodies, but it was difficult. Men, women, turians, humans... they had thrown their lives away for a little profit. Why did they place such low value upon their own lives? In the Migrant Fleet, every life was precious. Even criminals were rehabilitated, where possible, rather than abandoned on a remote planet or executed. Every quarian had a home, and a family. Every quarian came from one ship and joined another upon completing their pilgrimage. She already knew which ship she wanted to join when she returned; the Neema, a beautiful destroyer of the Heavy Fleet, commanded by Admiral Han'Gerral vas Neema. All she had to do now was find something worthy of taking back to the fleet. Something worthy of an admiral's daughter; a way for her people to take back Rannoch, the quarian homeworld, from the geth.

She stopped walking when she bumped into Wrex, and offered the krogan an apology. He seemed not to hear her, however, or even notice that she'd bumped into him. Instead he was looking at something ahead of him, just outside the stairs to the SI office. To get a better view she stepped around him, and saw Gianna Parasini standing in the corridor. For a wonder she was alone, and not surrounded by ERCS guards come to find out what all the noise was about.

"Commander Shepard," Gianna said, and Tali took a step forward to better see and hear. Beside her, Wrex and Ash were both fingering their weapons idly. They did not seem to trust this turn of events. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Gianna Parasini, investigator for Noverian Internal Affairs."

"So," Shepard said. "Not a secretary."

"That was my cover," Gianna smiled. "Now I hope that it won't be needed anymore."

"You've been investigating Anoleis?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, for several months now."

"I thought that it was 'every man for himself' on Noveria," Liara said. "That the actions of one person were largely irrelevant to the whole."

"Normally that's true," Gianna admitted, "but Anoleis has been rocking the boat for too long. He's been driving up rent prices and driving away business. The executive board is not pleased. That's why they tasked me with finding evidence of his wrong-doings."

"But you haven't found evidence of his wrong-doings," Shepard pointed out.

"Not yet. But I know that whatever you're taking to Lorik Qui'in will incriminate Anoleis. I'd like you to talk to Qui'in, ask him to agree to testify. With his evidence and his testimony, it will be more than enough for me to lock Anoleis up for a very long time. Multi-stellar corporations don't take lightly to theft."

"You used me, and my team," Shepard said. "You sent me to Qui'in, luring me with the hope of getting a garage pass. You knew that he'd ask me to get the evidence from his office, because I was the only one who could go up against corrupt guards."

"It was necessary," Gianna shrugged, which Tali thought was a very stupid thing to say, given how angry the commander looked. "I couldn't have gained entry to SI on my own; only its employees have passes. Maybe I could have hacked my way in, but I would have been shot on sight. And I couldn't have taken ERCS guards with me, because pitting ERCS against ERCS would have torn this place apart."

"You could have simply asked for my help instead of manipulating me and putting the lives of my team in danger," Shepard replied.

"I had no way of knowing at the time that you wouldn't just turn me in to Anoleis, and ask for a garage pass as payment for thwarting my investigation," Gianna explained. "Please try to see things from my point of view. I've spent so long under-cover, trying to find the evidence required. When this break with Qui'in came, I couldn't let it go. And your arrival proved too good an opportunity to pass up. I'm sorry about the way I did this, but given the chance, I'd do it again."

"I don't like what she did, Shepard," said Garrus, "but I can understand her motives. I've seen C-Sec officers spend months, even or year or two, on undercover assignment, trying to get into the inner circle of their target, to bring everything down. Sometimes it can all ride on one moment, one action. And I've seen more than one officer snap under the pressure, too."

"I'll speak to Qui'in," Shepard said to Gianna in a quiet voice. "_If_ he decides to testify, I will give you his data. But first I will make a copy of it. That way, if you turn out to be not who you say you are - again - if you're some double-agent working for Anoleis, or if Qui'in or his evidence go missing, I'll still have the data. And I'll know exactly what to do with it, and precisely who to look for when I'm meting out justice. In addition, if you ever try to manipulate me again, Ms Parasini, you will find yourself looking at the bars of an Alliance jail cell for a very long time. Or, if I chose to deal with you as a Spectre, and not as an Alliance officer, you might not find yourself at all. Understood?"

"Perfectly, commander," said Gianna, looking only slightly paler than she had done at the start of the conversation. "Let me know how your meeting with Qui'in goes. I'll be waiting in my office for your response. And I'm sorry for using you. I know it won't help, but I'll make sure you and your team are adequately compensated for your trouble. As well, if you're able to get Qui'in to testify, you can have my garage pass."

When Gianna left, Kaidan stepped up to the commander's shoulder. "You know," he said, "I almost believed your threat myself, for a minute there."

Tali did not see the look Shepard gave him, but judging by the expression on his face, he didn't approve.

"This place is almost as bad as the Citadel," Wrex said, a disgusted expression on his scarred face. "Full of lies and secrets and... politics. I hate politics. You'll never catch me hanging around with politicians for this very reason. They always want something from you, and it's usually not something that's of benefit to you."

"I've got to go and see Qui'in," Shepard said. "It won't take me long. Why don't you all wait for me out near one of those water fountain things? Tali, would you join me whilst I speak to Qui'in?"

"Me?" Tali asked, taken by surprise. "Well, okay. No problem, Shepard."

She and the commander lef the group, who began taking up residence on a couple of nearby benches, and made their way back towards the hotel elevator. She waited patiently; Shepard must have had some reason for asking her to come along when no assistance was required, but Tali didn't like to force things. Sometimes, she had learnt, it was better to wait and see what happened, than ask a lot of questions.

"I just wanted to ask how you've been since Agebinium," Shepard said at last, glancing at her as they walked.

"Fine, I guess," she shrugged.

"I mean, I know from experience that being in such a stressful and dangerous situation can leave a very deep and lasting impression on you. After Akuze, I had nightmares for months. I tried so hard not to sleep that the doctors started sedating me every night. It wasn't real sleep, but at least it kept the dreams away."

"I have had a couple of bad dreams about being trapped in a very small area," Tali admitted. It wasn't something that she felt comfortable talking about; even now, thinking about being stuck beneath the rocks, squeezed by tons of stone and soil, made her hyperventilate a little. Luckily, her suit was able to compensate. "I haven't been avoiding sleep, though," she assured Shepard, "and my daytime activities are not affected in any way. I like to be the best that I can, so that I am ready for any situation. Whenever you need me, I'm here."

"Thanks," Shepard said, with a smile that lit up her face. The commander, Tali thought, didn't smile enough. "And if you want to talk at any time, about bad dreams, or anything else, just let me know. I'm always around to listen."

"That is appreciated," Tali told her. "Though I think I will be okay. Quarians are used to small spaces, because there is not much space on our ships. I think, more than anything, it is the thought of being alone that gives me the worst nightmares. On Agebinium, when you and Garrus left... I knew it had to be done, and I know I suggested it... but I was so frightened that you might not come back for me. For a short time, hearing your voices on the comm was all that gave me hope. Then you moved out of communications range. I thought the worst; that you'd been killed, or taken offworld by Normandy. I don't think I've ever felt so alone in my life," she admitted, and felt tears squeezing out of the corners of her eyes. Her hands were shaking too, she realised, so she held them behind her back so they could not be seen.

"We don't leave our people behind, Tali," said Shepard. Her blue eyes were full of sympathy, her face soft, less worn by the rigours of military life and the burdon of command. "You don't ever have to worry about being left behind. Not whilst you're a part of my crew, anyway."

"Thank you, Shepard," she said. Even to her own ears, her voice sounded thick with emotion. To distract herself, she recalled her earlier musings, and decided this was as good a time as any to ask her questions. "Actually, there was one thing I was wondering about," she said. "Something about human customs."

"Ask away."

"Well, when I was in hospital on the Citadel, Adams brought me flowers. To cheer me up, he said, and give me something nice to look at. I was just wondering if I'm supposed to do something to thank him. I mean, I don't know anything about humans... I have no idea about the context in which he gave me the flowers."

"Ah, I see," Shepard said thoughtfully, a few of the creaselines returning to her eyes as she frowned. "Whenever somebody gets sick, or has to go into hospital, flowers are a traditional gift given to help lift their mood. Anybody can give flowers... friends, relatives, couples, etc. You don't need to do anything in return, except say thank you. It's understood that sometimes, we all get sick and deserve flowers. Maybe when somebody you know gets sick, you can give them flowers, so that the good-feeling that goes with them is shared."

"Most people I know who get sick, die," Tali pointed out.

"Christ, I'm sorry," Shepard said, looking aghast. "I didn't mean to be so insensitive. I guess sometimes I just forget that without your suit, you'd be at risk. I'm so used to seeing you in it, that I think of it as an extension of you. I'm sorry if you took offence."

"I didn't," she assured the commander. "In quarian society, flowers are given as a gift to show affection towards, or impress, a potential mate. They are considered a great luxury, because on our ships, we have no space to grow things which merely look nice but serve no purpose. But a gift of flowers does not take up much room, because they do not last for too long, and it shows the person receiving them that the giver cared enough to go to all the trouble of collecting them and arranging them in a presentable way. At quarian weddings, entire ships are decked out with flowers. It helps to remind us that there is more than just space and environmental suits awaiting us in the future."

"It seems some traditions span many species," Shepard smiled. "Humans have a similar custom, although it's almost exclusively men giving flowers to women."

"Has anybody ever given you flowers before?" she asked.

"Yeah, when I was injured on a mission, my squad sent me flowers whilst I was in hospital. And one bouquet every week whilst I was recovering and performing light administrative duties."

"That's not what I meant, Shepard, and you know it. Have any _men_ given you flowers before?"

"No," she admitted. "I'm not really a flowers sort of person. The leader of my gang on Earth did give me a bike, though. Don't ask," she added, before Tali could ask what that meant.

"So... Lieutenant Alenko has never given you flowers?" Tali asked, trying to probe, as gently as possible, into the commander's private life. She wasn't the only one who thought there was more between Shepard and Kaidan than friendship... Liara thought so too. As did Joker.

"No," Shepard frowned. "What makes you ask that?"

"Just little things," she replied. "He calls you by your first name a lot, rather than your second name or rank, like everybody else does. And I've noticed that you seem quite... familiar with him."

"Kaidan and I are old friends."

"And that's all?"

"You know, when I invited you to come with me, I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition," Shepard said, pushing the elevator button. And again, before Tali could ask what that phrase meant, Shepard pushed on. "We've been through a lot together, Kaidan and I. He's like family to me. Anything else would be too complicated."

"Why?"

"Because of Alliance rules. And other stuff. I'd really not rather talk about it."

"Okay, Shepard," she replied, hoping she sounded contrite. "I'm sorry for pushing the subject." They both stepped into the elevator, and Shepard pressed the button for the bar. "Shepard, will you really carry out your threat to Gianna Parasini?" she asked.

"I don't know," the commander sighed. She rubbed her face with both hands for a moment, reminding Tali of a mouse washing its face with its paws. "I'm just so fed up of being used by people. Everywhere I go, it seems like people want to cash in on my Spectre status."

"You're an important person," Tali told her. "And the more important you become, the less freedom you have. I learnt that the hard way, from being an admiral's daughter."

"I don't want to be important. I just want to do my job."

At that moment, she felt very sorry for Shepard. From what she had seen and heard, the commander hadn't wanted any of this. She'd been promoted and put up as a Spectre candidate with no say in the matter, and then inducted into the Spectres the moment the Council needed someone to do their dirty work. In addition, her own promotion within the Alliance had brought its share of burdons too.

Before Tali could offer words of consolation, however, the elevator doors opened and Shepard stepped out, making a beeline for Lorik Qui'in. Tali had watched the turian, whilst waiting for Shepard. He seemed possessed of remarkable patience. He had, apparently, been sitting at the bar, drinking slowly, ever since Anoleis had closed his office.

"I got your evidence," Shepard said without preamble as she sank down onto the chair opposite Qui'in. Tali chose a position to stand just behind the commander. "But there's a problem."

"What problem?" Qui'in asked, his dark eyes full of suspicion.

"I've been contacted by an investigator with Internal Affairs. She'd like to use your evidence to convict Anoleis of fraud and corruption and whatever else she can pin on him. And she'd like you to testify in the case, too."

"You want to dictate how I use my own evidence?" he asked angrily.

"No. I want to _suggest_ that you co-operate with internal affairs. With your evidence and testimony, they can lock Anoleis up." Tali could tell that the turian wasn't convinced. "Think of it this way," Shepard elaborated, "Anoleis has been stealing credits from every corporation on Noveria. If you're the one who's uncovered his activities and stopped him, you'll be a hero. Your honour will be more than restored."

"Well," he said hesitantly, "I suppose I was only going to turn it into the executive board anyway. If my testimony gets this circus over with faster, then I'll testify. I just want everyting to get back to the way it was. Back to business."

"Great. I'll let my contact know right away," Shepard said. "Good day, Mr Qui'in."

"Spectre," Qui'in nodded.

"Well," Tali said, as she followed Shepard into the elevator, "that went better than I expected."

"You just have to take a firm stance with turians," Shepard said knowingly as she pressed the elevator button for the ground floor.

"Turians?" she asked. "Or men."

"Both," said Shepard. Then she smiled. "So, has anybody ever given _you_ flowers before?"

"Not yet. But I'm not even returned from my pilgrimage. Perhaps when I have found a way for us to reclaim Rannoch, I will receive many gifts of flowers from adoring fans."

"When you get your homeworld back, I'll help you plant a whole _garden_ of flowers."

"Thanks, Shepard," she replied, with a smile of her own. Though Shepard couldn't see her smiling beneath the mask, she knew it would be conveyed in her voice.

"No problem. Now, what say we deliver the good news to Gianna Parasini and get the hell out of Port Hanshan?"

"That sounds like the best idea I've heard all day," she replied.


	24. When Hell Freezes Over

Deus Ex Machina

_24. When Hell Freezes Over_

"Did you have any problems getting Gianna's garage pass?" Kaidan asked, as the group made their way to the garage area.

"Nah, she kept her word," Ellie replied. "Anoleis was one _very_ unhappy bunny, though. Gianna manhandled him all the way from his office to the space dock. I suspect he's going to get what's coming to him."

"Too bad corrupt people never learn from their mistakes," Garrus said. "There'll be somebody else to replace him soon enough."

"Have a little faith," Liara said. "You always seem to expect the worst of people."

"Working in C-Sec, all you ever see is the worst of people."

"This is it," Ellie said, stopping in front of a door. "Now we find out if Gianna Parasini keeps her word."

She swiped the card and the reader turned green. The door opened quietly, revealing a large garage packed full of vehicles. Grizzlies, Makos, and many more of alien design that she didn't recognise.

"Did I just die and go to heaven?" she asked, looking around at all the vehicles.

"We're never going to get her out of here," Kaidan said to the others, and she could tell without looking that he was rolling his eyes.

She bent forward to examine part of one of the stranger vehicles, and heard something impact just above her head. Glancing up she saw a small bullet-hole in the side of the vehicle, and immediately her adrenaline kicked in as she grabbed her gun. Dropping into a crouch behind a huge spare wheel, she suddenly realised why the garage had been so devoid of life. Half a dozen geth had been waiting in the room, activating only when she and her team entered. Geth troopers fired at the team, whilst a huge geth juggernaut advanced towards them and two fast-moving geth hoppers bounced around the ceiling. Ellie immediately called up a weapons-overload program on her omni-tool, and activated it where the geth were standing. Wrex, meanwhile, was rushing to meet the geth juggernaut head-on. As soon as he was closed enough, he launched himself at it, erecting a biotic field around himself and hitting the huge geth right in the middle with all of his mass. It fell over backwards with Wrex still hold of it, and as soon as it was on its back he opened fire with his assault rifle, blasting into the geth's head.

Ash and Tali had taken cover behind an old Grizzly and were firing at the geth troopers, whilst Kaidan and Liara were generating mass-effect fields, trying to keep their enemies off-balance. Garrus had swapped his sniper rifle in favour of an assault rifle, to maximise collateral damage, and was firing at the geth hoppers from behind a Mako.

"Ash!" Ellie called. "The Grizzly cannon"

The young woman looked up and saw what she meant. Ash was right beside the Grizzly's cannon controls.

"Lay down some cover fire for me," Ellie heard Williams say to Tali. But she didn't have time to watch as the young woman climbed on top of the vehicle. Instead she drew her pistol and began shooting at the geth hoppers which were making a nuisance of themselves. She fired rapidly at one, but it jumped to a new location before she got more than a couple of hits in. The second hopper, however, fell from the ceiling, riddled with bullets.

Just as she was aiming for the hopper again, there was a loud explosion as the Grizzly's gun fired. Large bullets tore through the geth troopers, and they collapsed immediately on the floor, their bodies rendered useless. The rest of the team concentrated their fire on the remaining geth hopper, and it quickly succumbed to superior firepower.

"I think that's the last of them," Liara said, looking around. She released the biotic field around her body.

"Shame," Wrex said, climbing off the inert juggernaut. "I was just getting started."

"What's going on in here?" asked a new voice. Turning towards the garage entrance, she found Matsuo and several ERCS guards entering the room. When Matsuo saw the devastation caused by the firefight and the Grizzly's gun, she stopped and stared in horror. Then her eyes fell on Ellie and her team. "Shepard! What have you done?" she demanded.

"I haven't done anything, captain," she replied calmly. Stepping aside, she gestured to the geth juggernaut. "These geth attacked us and we defended ourselves."

"Geth?" said Matsuo, her olive skin growing paler. "But... how..."

"I guess we know what Matriarch Benezia had in those crates, now," said Garrus.

"Matsuo," Ellie said, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder to break her out of her shocked reverie. "I need to get to Peak 15. There may be more geth there. Which way is it?"

"Through that blast door," Matsuo replied, gesturing to one of the closed garage doors. "It is easy enough to get to, just follow the path. But it will be dangerous. The blizzard is still raging. And if there are geth..."

"I'll handle the geth," she said confidently.

"Very well," the captain acceded with a bow of her head. "I must report this incident to my employers right away. They will want to know that the geth have infiltrated Port Hanshan. Good luck, Commander Shepard."

Matsuo left with a couple of her guards, leaving the remainder to drag away the geth bodies. They didn't look pleased about having to do it, but Ellie ignored them, turning her attention to the vehicles. Most were undamaged by the firefight, so she selected three Makos and turned to face her team.

"I'll be driving Mako one," she told them. "Williams, you drive Mako two, and Kaidan, Mako three. Garrus, you're with Kaidan, on the mass effect cannon. Tali'Zorah, with Williams, on the main gun. Wrex, Liara, you'll be with me, sitting at the main gun and cannon respectively."

"But Shepard," Liara said, her face full of alarm, "I don't know _how_ to fire a mass effect cannon."

"Don't worry, you'll learn fast."

"Could I request _not_ to be put in a Mako with Kaidan driving it?" Garrus asked.

"Hey," Kaidan objected. "You've never even see me drive."

"No, but I've heard Shepard complain about it often enough to know that I really don't want to see it."

"Sorry Garrus, but somebody has to suffer Kaidan's driving," she told him. "Now, let's move, people!"

They scattered to their vehicles, and whilst engines were being started and guns prepped, she used her omni-tool to boost her suit's comm range and opened a channel to the ship in dock.

"Normandy, this is Shepard."

"Receiving, commander," said Pressly.

"Be advised that we have encountered geth resistance in Port Hanshan. I think we got them all, but ask the marines to stand guard outside Normandy's dock just in case. Rotational shifts. We're borrowing three vehicles and driving up to a Binary Helix lab called Peak 15, where we have strong reason to believe Benezia has gone. We'll check in again once we've arrived."

"Acknowledged, commander. Just so you're aware, Alliance command have been in touch. Hackett wanted an update on your progress. He seems to have taken interest in your mission, though maybe he's just got more orders for you and is impatient for you to get back."

"If he calls again," she said, "tell him what I've told you. And let him know that I'll contact him once my mission's complete. Shepard out."

She closed the comm line and climbed up onto the Mako, stepping over the hatch and using the short ladders to descend into the vehicle, closing the door behind herself. Inside she found Wrex showing Liara the basics of the Mako's cannon controls, and she settled herself down into the driving seat. Activating the engine, she revved it a couple of times, for no particular reason other than the fact that she liked the sound of revving engines, and fastened her safety harness.

"Shepard," said Liara, "why do your vehicles have doors on the top, instead of the side?"

"It's safer."

"How so?"

"If you're driving over a land-mine or a thresher comes up beneath you, the vehicle is more structurally stable with the door furthest away from the point of impact," she said absently as she flipped various switches to bring her scanners online.

"Oh," Liara replied faintly.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure there's no land mines on Noveria."

"Or threshers," Wrex grinned. "Did I ever tell you the time when I took out a thresher maw on foot?"

"No," Ellie smiled, unsure if she actually believed he'd done such a thing.

"It was during my rite of passage. Normally, surviving for five minutes is enough, but I actually killed it. Last krogan to ever do that, I was."

"Weren't you afraid?" Liara asked.

"What good's fear in battle?"

"It helps to keep you alive?"

"Ha! A steady aim and a decent weapon keeps you alive. Fear is just a distraction."

"And how does one... get over their fear?"

"I don't know. You just do. I suppose the way I see it, no matter how big and bad my enemy is, I know I'm bigger and badder. And much more dangerous."

"Mako one, this is Mako two," said Ashley over the vehicle comm system. "We're about ready to go, commander."

"Mako three?" Ellie asked.

"We're ready too, commander."

"Alright," she said, pressing the button to open the garage door. "We won't know what visibility's going to be like en route, so stay close. Five-metre intervals, just in case we need to do a little manoeuvering out there. If you hit ice, don't panic, just gently tap the brakes. Everyone ready?"

"Yes," said Ash.

"Yes," Kaidan confirmed.

"No," said Garrus.

"Right," she replied, ignoring the last comment. "Here we go."

o - o - o - o - o

As soon as Lilihierax heard there'd been an "incident" in the garage, he left the bar, where it had been his custom over the past few years to have a midday drink and a bite to eat, and all but ran back to the place where he worked. When he got there he found chaos. The place was a mess, vehicles and walls riddled with bullet-holes, whilst ERCS guards dragged away corpses. Upon closer inspection they appeared to be synthetic, and he exhaled sharply, his mandibles flaring in irritation and surprise.

"What have you been doing to my garage?" he asked one of the guards.

The other turian - the tattoos on his face indicating that he came from the colony of Oma Ker - shook his head."It wasn't us, it was the Spectre."

He should have known. "Well, where is she now?"

"Took three of the vehicles and headed out to Peak 15. Just left a couple of minutes ago."

"What, in this weather? She's crazy!"

"Aren't all Spectres?" the guard snorted.

Li left him to his task, and went to a smaller office that was set off from the garage through a door. Inside were several screens, showing images of the garages and the paths to the various research facilities on Noveria. Entering a command into his computer, he brought up the cameras which covered the route to Peak 15. As he feared, it was treacherously icy, the snow reducing visibility of the cameras.

It took him a few moments of screen-watching, but he finally found the small convoy of vehicles making progress through the snow drifts. Surprisingly, they were managing a decent speed. The lead vehicle was compacting the snow, which made it easier for the second vehicle, which in turn was compacting the snow and making it easier for the third vehicle. They'd spaced out enough to give themselves chance to react to any changes in situation, but close enough to be within visible range. Not that visible range was entirely necessary; the human Makos were equipped with adequate scanners.

Suddenly, the lead vehicle swerved, and began firing its gun, followed by its mass effect cannon. It was shooting at something! And now the second vehicle was firing too, and before long the third joined in. Quickly, he brought up another camera, and saw a small group of what looked like humanoids, standing in the snow, shooting at the vehicles. At first he thought they were quarians, but surely even quarian environmental suits could not stand the outside cold of Noveria for so long? When he looked more closely, however, he realised they were not quarians. They were geth. The same synthetics as the bodies being dragged out of his garage.

The vehicles dealt with the geth easily enough, and then they had a lucky break. They entered a covered section of tunnel, allowing them to travel faster and not have to worry about slipping on the treacherously narrow path to Peak 15. Of course, nothing was ever that easy. More geth troops were waiting inside the covered tunnel, and they fired rockets at the vehicles. The first one took a couple of hits, but managed to dodge the rest of the incoming rockets. As the second and third Makos fired their weapons, the first simply increased its speed and ploughed right through the geth troops, squishing them like bugs. Crude, but effective.

He was willing to bet that Shepard was in the first Mako. Spectres were the first and last line of defence, after all. They didn't like to let other people lead. At least, that's what he'd learnt from talking to Spectres, and watching vids about them. Not that the vids were accurate documentaries, or anything. Because Spectre activities were classified, nobody ever _really_ knew what they got up to. Still, he didn't think Shepard was all that different to the rest of them, even if she _was_ human. Not bad looking for a human, either. If he was twenty years younger...

Shaking his head, he allowed the line of thought to disappear from his mind, concentrating instead on the surveillance system. The vehicles were back outside, now, continuing to climb the snow-laden path. Suddenly, a huge four-legged geth monstrosity appeared on one of the cameras. The occupants of the vehicles obviously hadn't seen it yet, and with the blizzard interfering with communications, he had no way of warning them. Growling, he cursed the spirits of bad weather!

The large geth thing fired an energy pulse, which the first Mako saw and avoided. It missed the second Mako, which was slightly off its line of fire, and the pulse hit the third Mako instead. The vehicle spun out of control, and his heart began to beat faster when he saw it spin towards the edge of the cliff. If it fell over the side, there would be no coming back for its occupants! He could almost feel the desperation of those inside as they frantically tried to slow their slide towards the cliff. He could almost hear the Mako's engine and brakes screeching in protest as they were forced to work against each other. The vehicle did slow, but not fast enough. Its first two wheels slipped over the edge, and then the next pair, too.

What was going to happen next? Obviously the other two vehicles most have noticed the plight of the third by now, but they were still under fire from the geth machine, which was slowly walking towards them as it continued to fire energy pulses. They were forced to dodge as they fired. Would they continue to shoot at it, to neutralise the threat, or would they opt to save the third vehicle at risk to themselves? You couldn't _pay_ for better viewing than this. Hmm, maybe, after it was done, he could ask the Spectre if she'd be averted to him selling the action footage of their daring mountain-climb. _Yeah,_ he thought, _and be sued by the executive board for selling private surveillance footage to the media._ Oh well, he could dream, anyway.

The geth walker suddenly exploded, and he almost cheered aloud before he realised all it would have gotten him was some strange looks from the guards. He watched closely as the first two vehicles returned to the third, which had slipped halfway over the cliff and was now teetering precariously, like a see-saw. It didn't bode well for the vehicle's occupants, and he doubted that the Spectre's team had brought their breather helmets along for EVA.

Fortunately, the Spectre seemed to know her way around a Mako. In the front of the first vehicle a small panel opened, revealing a mag-harpoon. Ahh, so she knew about that! Good. Not everybody did. The second vehicle followed suit, then both vehicles went into reverse, backing up as they launched their harpoons at the stricken Mako. Both harpoons hit their mark, the impact forcing the balanced vehicle further back over the cliff. And it might have fallen, too, if the other vehicles weren't reversing and winching at the same time.

The second Mako slid forward by a few feet, its wheels losing their purchase on the ice beneath them. The first Mako reversed more quickly to compensate, and soon enough the second vehicle had regained its grip and was once more contributing to the recovery. With his heart feeling like it was in his mouth, he watched a the third Mako was pulled to safety. The winches were released and recoiled, and the convoy slowly continued on its way.

That had been a close call! He really didn't envy whoever was in that third vehicle. Glancing ahead on the cameras, he saw that the rest of the path was mostly clear of enemies, except for a couple of turrets which were near the end of the path, right outside of Peak 15's entrance. They proved no match for the Makos, though, and soon enough all three vehicles were being driven into Peak 15's garage. When he lost sight of them he reset the consoles to display cameras at random. So much excitement for one short journey! It was almost enough to make him wish he was still in the military.

Almost.

o - o - o - o - o

Ellie was first out of her Mako once it had stopped. She opened the hatch, peered out cautiously, and upon finding no waiting enemies, lifted her whole body out. Climbing down the side of the vehicle, she went to the other two and banged on their hulls, indicating the area was clear. Whilst everybody else disembarked, she secured the garage door, locking it so that nobody could enter behind and surprise them.

"I am _never_ getting into a vehicle with Kaidan again," Garrus said, the moment he was out of Mako three.

"It wasn't my driving that knocked us over the edge, it was the energy blast from that geth machine."

"Either way, it's not important," Ellie told them. "You're both safe now."

"That was pretty wild, commander," Ash said appreciatively. "Definitely not something I want to try again, but definitely something to write home about. Uh..." she said, seeing Ellie's expression, "that is, if this wasn't a top-secret classified operation and I actually talked about work stuff with the family. Which I don't."

"I hope that was the worst of the geth forces we will encounter," Liara said, looking a little peaky.

"You'd rather we go up against those 'dozen' asari commandos?" Tali asked.

"Yes. Much rather."

"Where to now, Shepard?" asked Wrex, jumping down from the Mako and landing heavily on the ground.

"Wherever there are people who can give us answers," she replied. She pointed her pistol at a smaller door. "That must lead into the main facility. Keep your eyes and ears open, everyone. Let's try to stay together. I don't want anybody getting left behind or separated. Kaidan, you've got our six."

"Aye, commander," he replied, and moved to the back of the group. It was, traditionally, the position he'd always taken in her unit. Being rear file required somebody who was patient, attentive and alert, who wouldn't give in to daydreaming or allow enemies to sneak up from behind. That he was a powerful biotic, capable of generating mass-effect fields to push back enemies, was just a bonus.

It quickly became obvious that Benezia had brought a great deal of geth troops with her. As soon as Ellie opened the door to the facility, geth started shooting at her. There were no hoppers this time, just a juggernaut and some troopers. She took cover and began returning fire as her team did the same. Then, from the corner of her eye, she caught movement, and saw a krogan appear. With his assault rifle firing steady bursts, he charged forwards. As soon as he moved, Ellie switched the ammo in her gun to toxic rounds and began shooting at him. Ash and Tali also switched their focus to the krogan, and he went down fast, his body quickly corroded by the acid in her bullets.

Silence reigned, and she stepped out from behind the crates she had used for cover, looking around at the handful of geth and two remaining krogan bodies. She tapped one with her foot, just to make sure he really was dead.

"This isn't the first time we've seen krogan working with geth," Kaidan said. "I wonder why the geth don't kill them, as they do other organics."

"Maybe Saren is able to control the geth," Liara suggested. "To tell them to target only specific people."

"Now there's a scary thought," Garrus said.

"I don't think it's possible for Saren to be controlling the geth in that way," Tali said. "The geth are unlike any other program ever created. It's not as if they have a master server than can be hacked and reprogrammed to allow control. The geth are all individual programs which network together to provide processing power. Attempting to control them would require major adaptations to their base programming. Essentially, it would be like rewriting part of a DNA sequence to control all humans. If thousands of quarian engineers have not been able to devise a way to control the geth, I can guarantee Saren hasn't."

"Then why do they follow him?" Wrex asked. "It sure as hell isn't for his charming personality and winsome people-skills."

"It is more likely because of the Reapers," Tali explained. "The geth consider them to be gods, and if Saren is trying to bring them back, they might consider him to be some sort of... prophet. Or they simply believe he is the means to an end, and that co-operating with him, and his mercenaries, is a preferable short-term goal than killing them."

"Why the geth obey Saren isn't important," Ellie said. "We just need to stop them. Now, let's find out what we're dealing with here." She approached the nearest computer console, and pressed the power button.

"Warning," came a computerised voice. "Emergency quarantine had been initiated. Main reactor is offline. VI interface is offline."

"It looks like we're going to have to get the reactor working if we want any answers," Kaidan said.

"Is it just me," said Garrus, "or is it much colder in here than it ought to be?"

"If the main reactor's offline, heating's probably offline too," Ellie said. She consulted her omni-tool. "The temperature is minus five celsius. It's tolerable."

"Speak for yourself."

"Is it cold in here?" Wrex asked. "It's hard to tell."

"I thought krogans _liked_ really hot temperatures?" Kaidan asked, clearly recalling a similar sentiment expressed by Wrex on Therum.

"Yeah, but we also like really cold temperatures. Hot, cold, toxic atmosphere... not much bothers us, really."

"Liara, Tali, how are you doing?" Ellie asked them, unsure of how they would cope with the cold.

"I am fine for now, commander," said Liara.

"My environmental suit compensates for external temperature variations and maintains its internal temperature at a pleasant twenty-three degrees," Tali.

"Well," Ellie replied, suppressing a shiver. "At least one of us is warm. Two of us, if you could Wrex. But let's concentrate on finding a way to restore power to the facility." She gestured to a nearby door, located up a long access ramp. "This looks like the only way out of Peak 15's garage. Let's see where it leads."

She led the way up the ramp, still holding her weapon. When she reached the door she opened it, stepping to the side to give the other members of her team a clear view. But the corridor was empty, and simply let to another door. Opening that door led to another corridor which had begun to fill up with ice and snow, resulting in an immediate drop in temperature. Shivering, and feeling the sensation in her fingers and toes decrease, she stepped forward, into a snow drift.

"Goddess, what happened here?" Liara asked. Her breath, when she spoke, formed a white mist in front of her.

"Looks like the window was breached, allowing snow and ice in," Williams said. She rubbed her hand over one of the glass panels, and peered out.

"See anything, chief?" Kaidan asked.

"Only mountains and snow, L-T."

"Come on," Ellie said, opening yet another door. "We need to keep moving."

As she stepped into the next corridor, there was a high-pitched screeching sound, an unnatural scream of anger and pain. Chills ran down her spine, and they had nothing to do with the temperature.

"I didn't like the sound of that," Wrex said. "Something sounds pissed."

"Maybe it's Benezia," Ash joked.

"That was no asari," Liara spoke up. "It did not sound like anything I have heard before."

Since she could offer no explanation for the sound, Ellie led her team on, through the next corridor which terminated in a lift. They piled inside it and she pressed the only button on the panel - the one for the floor below. It didn't take the elevator long to reach its destination, and soon they were all stepping out into another corridor. Say what you would about Binary Helix, they were big on their corridors.

A warning light on her omni-tool scanner caught her attention, and she brought up the holographic display. It showed a dozen red blips in the room behind the next door, but it was the only door available, and clearly the way she needed to go.

"I'm picking up energy sources," she warned her team. "Must be geth. Get ready for a fight."

"You going to let me go in first, Shepard?" Wrex asked her. "I am a krogan battlemaster, after all."

"Hey, if you want to be first into a room full of hostile synthetics, be my guest."

"Glad you're seeing it my way."

When Wrex was ready she activated the door entry button and allowed him to stride forward. He immediately began firing his gun, and the sound of fire being returned sprang up right away. Allowing Ash, Garrus and Liara to follow him, she began setting up a dampening field in the area, to suppress geth weapons and abilities, whilst Tali attempted to hack one of the units, and Kaidan arranged for an overload of their weapons. When her dampening field was complete she entered the room and ducked behind an overturned table, just as a stray bullet was deflected by her armour's kinetic barrier.

This room, like the corridor on the floor above, had been exposed to the outside atmosphere, though at one time it had clearly been a canteen or mess. It had begun to fill up with snow and ice, and a bitterly cold wind stirred the air sending flurries of snow around the over-turned tables and chairs. Looking at Kaidan and Ashley, she saw their cheeks as pale as hers undoubtedly where. Liara, meanwhile, looked as blue as ever, and Garrus merely looked tired, his movements slower than usual. Only Tali and Wrex seemed unaffected by the bitter cold; they both continued shooting at geth, ducking back into cover whenever their weapons needed to cool off.

Ellie peered above the table she was hiding behind and selected her target, firing at one of the geth troopers. She delivered several bullets to its head, and it collapsed on the floor in a motionless pile. And, despite being at a disadvantage as far as numbers was concerned, her team's superior fire-power won the day. The geth units fell into the drifts of snow, and were still.

"Everybody okay?"

"I was hoping for a few more," Wrex grumbled. "I was just getting started when we finished them all off."

His next words were cut off by the same unnatural shriek that they had heard in the corridor above. Instinctively, they all moved closer together. The shriek sounded much louder, this time. And much angrier. But nobody got the chance to comment; one of the doors into the frozen mess hall opened, and a number of small creatures began to pour into the room. They were so fast that Ellie barely got a chance to look at them before she was forced to shoot at them, trying to pick them off one by one. When one of the small creatures was shot near her, it exploded, its body releasing some sort of acid that passed right through her kinetic shields and began eating through the material of her boot. Quickly, before it had chance to corrode too much, she picked up a handful of snow from a drift and wiped the acid off.

"Goddess!" she heard Liara say, and looked up in time to see two much larger creatures entering through the door. They were the most grotesque things she had ever seen in her life; brown contorted bodies beneath multiple legs, with long antennae and beak-like mouths, they possessed long, thin arm-like structures with some sort of graspers on the end. They looked like some sort of unholy combination of ants, scorpions and crabs, only a version of them that might come out of some horror vid.

Raising her pistol, she fired several shots at the first one, which advanced menacingly. When it opened its mouth, she had a strong suspicion about what was about to happen.

"Everyone find cover!" she shouted, diving aside as a stream of venom or acid spewed forth from the creature's mouth. Everybody heeded her words, and as soon as they were able they began firing everything they had at the creatures. Liara created a biotic field which lifted one of them up into the air, and it spun helplessly around whilst Tali and Ash shot it to pieces. Kaidan pushed the second creature back with another biotic field, and Ellie, along with Wrex and Garrus, emptied as many rounds as possible into it. Finally it expired, collapsing on the floor in a pool of green fluid that quickly ate through the snow and ice beneath it.

With her weapon still trained on the body of the second creature, she approached it and nudged it with her foot. When it didn't react, she used her pistol to lift up one of it's grasper-stalks, and brought it to head-height for closer inspection.

"Careful, commander," Ash warned. "We don't know it it's really dead."

"Not even a krogan could survive how many bullets we put into this thing," said Wrex. "But just in case you're worried..." He pointed his rifle at the creature's body and shot it several more times. There was no reaction.

"Anybody any idea what the hell these things are?" asked Ellie.

"I'm afraid xenobiology is not my field, commander," Liara apologised. Her bright blue eyes roamed over the creature's corpse.

"They're the newest monsters in my next nightmare," Kaidan said wryly.

"I have a theory," said Tali.

"I'm listening," Ellie replied.

"Well, we know that this research lab is built in a glacier, as all Noverian labs are. What if Binary Helix found something down here, frozen in the ice? Perhaps these creatures lived on this world long ago, before it became so glaciated. It would explain why the creatures do not seem to be affected by the cold."

"So what, BH brought these things up from the bottom of a glacier, or cloned them from genetic material found down there, and then they escaped?" Ash asked.

"I don't think idle speculation is going to help us," Garrus said. "Maybe we should get moving and try to restore main power. I'm sure a computer could tell us much more than a corpse."

"Alright," Ellie agreed. Garrus wasn't usually so snappy, but he did have a good point. Standing around wasn't getting anything done.

She led her team up the steps, to the door that the creatures had come through. Peering around it, she saw nothing, and stepped forward into yet another corridor. This one was thankfully devoid of ice and snow, but it terminated in another elevator. Once more they piled inside, and this time the elevator took them up a level, closer to the surface of the research facility.

Stepping out, they found another door, which led into an access corridor when opened. At the far side of it was another door, and for a moment, Ellie thought she heard sound from the other side of the door. Scanning the area with her omni-tool revealed nothing, but she was suddenly a lot less sure of her scanning equipment than she had been before. It wasn't configured to detect unknown life-forms.

"Looks like it's time for the krogan battlemaster to do what he does best," Wrex said, stepping forward and hefting his weapon.

"You know," said Garrus, "referring to yourself in the third person is considered clear sign of insanity."

"I'm on a frosty ice-planet with a turian and a Spectre, hunting down an evil asari Matriarch who can kill us all with the power of her brain. Of course I'm insane," Wrex scoffed. "I didn't need _you_ to tell me that. Are we going to get this door open any time soon, Shepard?"

At his urging she opened the door, and was met by the sight of more of the alien creatures. As before they started to swarm, and their bodies were cut to shreds, ripped apart by the combined firepower of her team. The larger creatures were much harder to take down, and even Wrex had to back up a few paces to get a better shot at one of them. At last, though, the insect-like creatures stopped attacking, and she followed Wrex forward into the room, avoiding the puddles of green blood as it sizzled quietly on the floor.

"Did I mention that I was never a big fan of spiders?" Kaidan asked, as he too stepped around the bodies.

"Hey commander, more doors," Ash said, approaching a door with a tram sign above it. She pressed the entry button, but nothing happened. "Damn. Locked."

"So's this one," said Tali, trying a door that said 'main reactor' on a sign above it.

"What's that, over there?" said Liara, pointing at a huge, circular computer unit.

"The VI memory core," Ellie said, recognising it immediately. "I once hacked a much smaller version of this type of unit."

"What, for fun?" asked Ash.

"No, for a bank robbery. Let's see if we can get this online."

She hurried forward, ignoring the chief's disapproving look. She couldn't change her past, and there was hardly any point in denying the things she had done. Though she wasn't proud of most of her time with the Blood Dogs, she wasn't going to start lying about her actions. Besides, everything that she had done back then had prepared her for being a Spectre now. Would she be where she was today if she hadn't learnt how to hack and crack and defend herself on the rough streets of the metropolis of urban London?

There was another door set back into the wall, but she ignored it for now. When she reached the VI unit, she found it functional, but not operational. It was the first bit of good news she'd had all day. The VI hadn't been destroyed, it had simply been shut down. And what was shut down could easily be started up. As her friends gathered round, she activated her omni-tool.

"I'm going to have to go down into the VI core and manually restart it," she explained. "I'll be back in a moment."

Before anybody could protest, she activated the platform which began to descend. Fortunately the emergency lighting was more than sufficient to see by, and when the platform stopped she called up the VI's processing routines. Nothing too complex had been done to deactivate the virtual intelligence. Its processing power had been routed through an inactive switch, which required only a brief work-around to make active. As soon as she had completed her repair, the full lights came on, and the platform ascended. Half a dozen concerned faces watched her, but they did not get chance to speak. The facility's VI came online, appearing in the form of a holographic human woman.

"VI user interface now online," the VI said. "Please state your identity."

"Command Eloise Shepard, Alliance military and Council Spectre," she said, hoping at least one of her ranks would get her some answers.

"Stand by whilst identity is confirmed," the VI replied. "Credentials confirmed. You have been granted Secure Access to this program. Please be aware that some functions can only be accessed by Privileged Access, which is only available to Binary Helix executives. I have been programmed to respond to the name 'Mira'. How can I assist you, Commander?"

"I need to know everything that's gone on here," she said.

"That query is too vague. Please refine."

"Why is the facility locked down?"

"And what are those freaky alien bugs?" Ash spoke up.

"My memory core shows that a contagion was detected outside of containment on the Rift Station, and a full systems shut-down was initiated by personnel there to prevent the contaminant from spreading. There is no mention of 'freaky alien bugs' in any of my logs, however."

"What is this 'Rift Station' you speak of?" Liara asked the VI.

"It is one of the individualised areas of this facility, where the main labs are kept."

"Do you know where Matriarch Benezia is?" Ellie asked.

"The Matriarch travelled to the Rift Station shortly before the lock-down was initiated. It is unknown whether or not she is still there."

"Then that's where we need to go. Can the trams take us to the Rift Station?"

"The tram system is currently offline."

"Of course it is," she sighed. "Well, can you at least tell us what's happening over on the Station? Has the 'contagion' breached the entire area? Are there survivors?"

"Unknown. Communication lines are down. I am unable to access that area of the facility."

"Alright," she said. Why couldn't anything ever be simple? "What do I need to do if I want to be able to get to the Rift Station, and have a good idea about what I'm walking into?"

"To power the tram system, the main reactor needs to be brought online. The helium-3 fuel lines must be reconnected to the reactor," said Mira. "To restore communications, the landlines must be reconnected to the mainframe."

"And where can we find those things?"

"The landlines are located on the roof outside of this facility. The door behind you contains an elevator, which will take you to that area." Ellie turned to glance at the door she had ignored previously. "The door to the main reactor's chamber is located in the room you entered prior to this one."

"But that door's locked," Ash said. "I tried it myself."

"Now that the VI interface is back online, I have unlocked the door for you."

"Thanks," said Ellie. "I don't suppose you can tell us exactly what Binary Helix were researching up here?"

"I'm sorry, but answers regarding the nature of the research are restricted to people with-"

"Privileged Access," she sighed. "I get it."

"What now, commander?" Kaidan asked.

What now indeed? She wondered. She still had no idea if the research Binary Helix was conducting was related to these alien bug-things, or whether they were an external aggressor. If the bugs were unrelated, that meant she'd have a whole new problem to deal with when she got to the Rift Station. On top of Benezia. And her commandos. And the geth. Suddenly, she felt very, very tired.

Taking a moment to survey her team, she found the worry in Kaidan's eyes a reflection of her own fears. This wasn't a good way to operate. They'd been through countless ops together, but never with such poor intel. It was a given that situations could change at a moment's notice, but at least in the past she'd always had _some_ idea of what she was walking into. Was this what Spectres were for? To go into unknown situations, assess them, try to make sense of them, and decide how those situations should ideally end? If so, it meant Spectres had a hell of a lot of responsibility. Maybe more than she was ready for.

Standing beside Kaidan, Ash looked every bit as cold as he did. Though combat armour's sensors could compensate to some degree for extremes of temperature, prolonged exposure was not a good idea. For the moment, whilst it was clad in its armour, Ellie's body was warm enough, but her face was extremely cold. The temperature had dipped another five degrees in this area, making it start to get uncomfortable for her lungs to process the cold air. She knew that her face was every bit as white as Ashley's, but there was nothing she could do about that now.

The aliens seemed to be coping to varying degrees. Wrex, faced with adversity and a whole armada of enemies, looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself, and didn't even seem to notice the cold. Then again, krogan hides were pretty thick, and their humps contained enough fat, protein and nutrients to keep them energised for long periods of time. And not only did they carry their energy around with them, they also had a set of redundant organs that would kick in if anything severe happened to the primary organs.

Tali'Zorah seemed to be doing well, too. No doubt her environmental suit, completely sealed against the outside world, was doing a sufficient job of keeping her warm. It was hard to tell how cold Liara was, because her skin was always blue, but she did seem a little more... pinched around the eyes. And the fact that she kept rubbing her hands together, even though she was wearing gloves, told Ellie that the cold was starting to get to her. Garrus, meanwhile, showed no visible signs of being cold, but he'd gone quiet. That he hadn't asked any questions of the VI, or offered up any recent witticisms or one-liners, was worrying.

"Now we fix this place up and get the hell out of here," she said, putting as much feeling as she could into her voice. Her team did not need to see her worried, or doubtful. They needed her to be strong, to lead them. "Tali, I'd like you to go to the roof and get the landline reconnected," she told the quarian. "Wrex, go with her, watch her back. We don't know what's waiting for us around the corner, so be careful."

"You can count on me, Shepard," said Tali.

"Kaidan, you need to get that helium-3 fuel line fixed," she said to her oldest friend. "Williams will go with you, to cover your six while you're working."

An immediate look of surprise appeared on Kaidan's face. "You... don't want to fix it yourself?"

"No. Getting these systems back online might attract attention to this area. I'm going to stay here with Liara and Garrus, and we'll hold the position in case any troops appear."

"Aye, commander," he said. "Come on, chief, we've got a fuel line to repair."

"We'll have the communications working again in no time, Shepard," Tali said, leaving for the door with Wrex in tow. Ellie was glad neither of them had complained about being sent to the surface to repair the landline. They were the two best suited for going outside right now; Ash and Kaidan would probably have found the conditions too harsh to work in.

"Go and stand guard near the tram door," she told Liara, once the two pairs had left for the respective goals. The asari nodded, and drew her pistol, taking up a position inside the larger room, just outside of the VI core area.

"Where do you want me, Shepard?" Garrus asked.

"Take a seat," she said, pointing at the core's raised platform.

"I don't need to sit down, I need to be useful."

"And you're no use to me if you're dead. Now sit. That's an order."

Grumbling something in turian, he sat down, folding his arms across his chest. Ellie watched for a moment, her well-trained eyes taking in his slow breathing rate and slow-blinking. Both were signs of the onset of hypothermia in humans, but she had no idea if the same applied to turians.

"You're really cold, aren't you?" she asked.

"We don't maintain our body temperatures as efficiently you mammals do," he said quietly.

"You're ectothermic?"

"No, we just regulate temperature differently. For example, we don't sweat. In high temperatures, we cool down by diffusion, not evaporation. And we don't shiver, either, so when it gets too cold, we fall into a state of torpor."

"And how close are you to that?"

"I have no idea. I've never been this cold before in my life. But I can barely feel my limbs anymore. That's not a good sign, right?" he asked, looking up at her. His yellow eyes seemed unusually dull.

"Probably not," she agreed. "But maybe I can help."

Taking one of her tech mines from her belt, she sat down on the floor, crossing her legs beneath her. She opened the mine's casing and then removed one of her suit's gloves, using her bare fingers to feel inside the mine for its trigger mechanism.

"If you're thinking of blowing us up, that will definitely make me warmer," he said, watching her. "For all of a nano-second."

"I'm not ready to blow us up just yet."

"Then what are you doing?"

"Something they don't teach you in Alliance basic training." Her fingers closed around the trigger and she smiled as she pulled it out, holding it up in the air for him to see. Then, before she could lose too much heat from her suit, she put her glove back on and closed the mine casing. Activating her omni-tool, she made some changes to its heat-storing system and tested it by holding it up near her cheek. "Take your gloves off," she said.

"So I can lose all sensation in my hands faster?" he scoffed.

"No. Trust me."

Clearly not thrilled with the idea of exposing his skin to the cold air, he nevertheless obeyed, and when he did she handed him the mine, which was slowly heating up. Cupping the mine in both hands, it didn't take long for relief to spread across his face.

"You can thank the Blood Dog Gang for that," she said. "I spent more than one cold night in some run-down hovel, waiting for a weapons drop or a chance to hack a terminal."

"You learnt to turn mines into portable heaters whilst running operations for a criminal gang?"

"We humans have a saying; necessity is the mother of invention." She glanced at the mine. "That won't last forever, though. I only slowed the thermal reaction, I didn't stop it completely. Eventually it will overload and explode, but it will take ten to fifteen minutes to reach that point, and I hope to be gone from this frigid hell-hole before then."

"Me too."

"If we're still here, I'll ask Liara to come and share her body heat with you."

"I didn't think asari were particularly warmer than other species," he said suspiciously.

"Really? With the way so many of them dress, I figure they've got to be running really high temperatures."

"Hmm. I always did wonder how the dancers in Chora's Den managed to stay warm. Maybe you should ask Liara for her expert opinion on the matter."

"That's cruel," she said, fighting back a smile. "You _know_ she'd take it as a genuine enquiry. And she'd probably give a serious answer, too."

"You mistake cruelty for good-natured teasing."

She gave an amused snort and activated her omni-tool, scanning the area for life-forms. There were only three; herself, Liara and Garrus. But that didn't mean much; it seemed the alien bugs didn't show up on her scanner, and geth could, apparently, remain inactive to fool scanners into thinking they weren't there. That must have been how Benezia smuggled them through Port Hanshan's weapons detectors in cargo crates. She made a mental note to ask Tali more questions about geth capabilities. If anybody would know, it was the quarian.

"I'm sorry about what Lilihierax said about you," Garrus offered at last. "It wasn't very respectful."

She shrugged. "If I had a hundred credits for every time some guy has hit on me, I'd be able to forget about this and retire somewhere warm and tropical."

"So... you weren't offended?"

"No more or less than the last few times it happened. Why do you ask?"

"Because I have no idea what offends humans. I imagine that having random strange men hit on you is bad enough, but that it's even more insulting when it's random turian strange men."

"Nah," she said, with another shrug. "Now, if he'd been batarian, that would have been another matter."

"You hate them, don't you?" he asked.

"Give that impression, do I?" she asked, with a forced smile. Even _talking_ about batarians left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Just a bit. I don't understand it, though. You learn to quickly take a measure of people, working for C-Sec, and I had you pinned down as a pretty open and accepting person. Not many humans would let a turian onto their highly secret prototype stealth ship. And even fewer would let a quarian or a krogan aboard."

"You're helping me capture Saren, though."

"And you hate Saren?"

"I'm working up to that, yeah."

"But you didn't hate Nihlus. And, hopefully, don't hate me. You aren't a big fan of Benezia, but you treat her daughter like a friend. You offer to help a salarian commit a crime by scanning keepers for him. I've never seen you hate an entire race before. So why do you have batarians?"

She pushed herself up from the floor and began pacing, partially to keep herself warm, and partially because thinking of all the things she'd done and seen in her military career did not allow for calm reflection. Remembering past events stoked her anger, made her want to move, made her want to _act_. For a moment she was so caught up with her memories that she even forgot Garrus was there, only recalling he'd asked her a question when he continued to watch her pace.

"I've spent the past four years of my life in the Skyllian Verge and the Attican Traverse, driving batarians off planets that humanity has staked a claim to. Hunting down batarians who've raided or attacked our colonies," she said.

"Some might say that the batarians have just as much right as humans to lay claim to planets in those areas," he pointed out factually.

"They've had plenty of time out here to build colonies and claim planets. If they're so interested in expansion, they should find new planets of their own, instead of stealing from ours. They're a race of nothing but liars, thieves and bullies."

"Some people think the quarians are the same," he replied. "And you let one of them travel on your ship with you. Give her free access to your technology. Aren't you afraid she might steal it, like the batarians steal from your planets?"

She felt the fingers on her right hand twitch - her gun-hand always did, when she was upset - but she ignored the angry voice in her head telling her that violence was the right response.

"Do you know what batarians steal, Garrus?" she asked quietly. "Anything they can get their hands on. Weapons. Machinery. Food. Minerals. People. How many batarian slave camps have you liberated?" She didn't wait for him to reply. "I've done six, now. And do you know how many broken people I've seen in those camps? So many that I can't even remember their faces. Do you know what batarians do to their slaves? Would you like to hear about what they do to the men, women and children in their 'care', for entertainment? Most people don't survive batarian entertainment, and those who do, wish they hadn't."

"Well, at least I know now why you hate them so much."

"But you didn't have to piss me off to do it," she said, sitting back down.

"Pissing people off is what I do best. Ask my old boss, if you don't believe me."

She shook her head. Clearly the heated tech mine was working, since Garrus seemed to be getting some of his humour back. Perhaps a little _too_ much. Stifling a yawn with her hand, she wondered how long she'd been chasing Saren for now. Calling up her omni-tool program, she opened up a calendar program, and looked at it for a moment. _Two weeks?_ Where the hell had time gone? Sure, she'd had to do a couple of missions for the Alliance, and there had been a couple of days on the Citadel, as well as _several_ days spent filing reports and reading evaluations whilst travelling between missions. So... yeah, two weeks sounded about right, actually.

"Huh," she said.

"What?"

"I just realised it's Armistice Day."

"What's that?" he asked.

"The day to mark the anniversary of the end of the First Contact War. It's been twenty-six years since your species and mine signed a peace treaty."

"Ahh," he said. "We don't bother marking that day. Turian history is liberally peppered with such incidents. If we celebrated every time something like that ended, every day would be a celebration."

"It's a bigger thing for humans because until the war, we didn't realise there were any aliens living in space. I mean, obviously we knew about the Protheans from their data cache on Mars, but they'd already been long gone by the time we got there. Hmm... twenty-six years ago," she mused. "I was too young to remember it. I would have been a toddler, already familiar with orphanage life."

"I have a very hazy memory of being at home, watching my older brother getting ready to join the military. He was a few weeks away from beginning basic training when the Relay 314 Incident occurred. My father told him that he might get the chance to see combat sooner than he thought, but my brother had only been in basic for a couple of weeks when the peace treaty was signed."

"I bet your father was disappointed," she grinned.

"A little. But my mother was relieved. She was pregnant with my sister at the time. She didn't want to welcome one child into the world, as she lost another."

At that moment all of the unlit lights within the room came on, and there was the sound of something mechanical starting up. Ellie stood, and walked towards the hologram's movement sensor. The ephemeral woman appeared.

"Mira, has the main reactor just come online?" she asked.

"That is correct," the hologram replied.

"What about communications?"

"Communications have been restored."

"Great. What's the situation like over on the Rift Station?"

"The Rift Station has been locked down by security personnel in that area. Science staff and security forces are garrisoned inside a secure location and have established a defensive perimeter. Approximately ten guards and fifteen scientists remain. In addition, Lady Benezia is present in that location, along with her asari escort. Contagions have breached containment."

"And can we get there on the tram?"

"Negative. Contagions have been identified in the tram access tube. Unsealing the doors is not advised without first activating the plasma purging system."

"Where's that?"

"The plasma ejection system is located next to the primary tram controls."

"That sounds like where we need to be," said Garrus.

"Commander!" Kaidan said, returning to the room with Ash by his side. "We encountered geth in the reactor core. Nothing we couldn't handle, but it proves that Benezia doesn't want us getting across to that station."

"I bet there weren't as many geth in the reactor core as there were alien bugs on the roof," Wrex said, stepping out of the lift with Tali right behind him. "We had lots of fun taking them out, didn't we, Tali?"

"Oh, yeah," the quarian replied drily. "I had a great time."

"So what now, Skipper?" Ashley asked.

"I was just quizzing Mira about that. She said that a 'contagion' has been detected in the tram access tube, and that we need to purge it with the plasma system before we can leave," Ellie said.

"It is already done," Liara said, appearing from the large room. It was only then Ellie realised that the asari hadn't been present for some time. "When I heard the VI tell you what needed doing, I thought I would... what is the phrase you use... scout ahead?" Liara explained. "I found the access tube just around the corner, with more of those alien insects in it. The plasma controls were so easy to understand, that even I could use them. The aliens have been neutralised, and we were free to proceed."

"Commander," Ash whispered, "are you sure we can trust a thing she says? Maybe she let the aliens out so they could ambush us."

Shaking her head at Ash's suggestion, she turned to face Liara. "Good work," she said, and the asari smiled. "But next time, just let me know you're going wandering, okay? Military procedure dictates that scouts go in pairs, in case something happens to one of them. If you'd been injured by something, I might never have known about it."

"Of course, commander," Liara said. "I'm sorry if I did not do things the correct way. But regardless, the way is clear. Should we leave his horrible place?"

"Good idea. Lead on."

The whole group followed Liara out of the VI core and into the tram access tube. There was nothing to suggest that alien bugs had been killed in the corridor, but plasma was like that. It vapourised everything in its path, leaving nothing behind. She did not doubt that Liara was telling the truth.

The access tube was the only way onto or off the tram platform, so it didn't take them long to find it. The only tram present was more than large enough to fit her whole team inside it three times over, and as Ellie activated the controls, instructing the tram to go to the Rift Station, the rest of her team sat down on the benches - other than Wrex, who preferred to stand - giving themselves a moment of rest before they had to dive back into the madness. And as the tram zipped along its track to its destination, she prayed to nothing in particular that the madness would end soon.


	25. Rachni Phobia

Deus Ex Machina

_25. Rachni Phobia_

Captain James Ventralis slid another stim pack into the medical port of his combat armour. As soon as it was inserted he felt the stims go to work, filling his blood stream, carried around to his brain and nerve endings. The haziness inside his mind abated, his vision became clearer. Thinking was suddenly less difficult, and he felt more awake. Stims were a poor replacement for sleep, but out here, sleep was a luxury he couldn't afford.

From the corner of his eye he saw Hallak jump to attention, his gun coming up, ready to shoot. But there was nothing there, and Hallak quickly settled back down. It was something that had happened so many times that the turian no longer looked embarrassed by his mistake. Ventralis couldn't blame him. All of his guards were stressed out and on edge. Most had had less than ten hours' sleep in five days, and were using stim packs at regular intervals to keep themselves awake. It wasn't hard for mistakes to be made, and jumping at shadows was the least of his concern. Men who couldn't get enough sleep grew not only jittery, but paranoid. More than once he'd heard a guard say that this was entirely the fault of the scientists, and maybe everyone would be a lot better off without them.

Sometimes, he even believed it himself. The dozen or so scientists his men had saved did nothing but sit in the back rooms sleeping and consuming valuable rations. His own men were already down to half-rations, and had been for two days. There were times when he considered grabbing two or three of the scientists, sticking guns in their hands, and telling _them_ to man the perimeter whilst his own men got a chance for a decent shift of sleep. But the scientists were untrained, had no combat skills, and no armour. The alien invaders would go through them like hot knives through butter.

Suddenly, the lift at the far side of the room activated. This was no false alarm. His gun game, up, as did those of the guards with him. They had their orders. _Shoot to kill_. There was nothing left of the world outside except the alien insects. When the door slid open, he began firing immediately. Too late he realised it wasn't an alien hostile, but a krogan. The second he realised his mistake he stopped shooting, and called out for his guards to cease-fire. Krogan might be brutal killers, but they weren't the enemy. Not today. That one had survived out there was a miracle.

Luckily, as soon as it had seen weapons, the krogan had erected a biotic field around itself, a barrier which prevented the bullets from hitting its skin.

"Ceasefire!" the krogan called out, in a surprisingly high-pitched voice.

Then, as his men stood down, he saw a young human woman step out from behind the krogan. She was armed with a pistol, and clad in light armour. Her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail, and the way she moved told him she'd been trained well in combat. The krogan followed her, and behind him he saw others; two more humans, who looked every bit the soldier as the woman. An asari, looking wide-eyed and surprised by her surroundings, which was an unusual thing to see on an asari face - normally they were so aloof and composed. A turian, whose attentive eyes quickly took in Ventralis, his guards, and how much cover there was available in the room if the shooting began again. And a woman whose face was hidden by a purple breathing mask, her gender distinguishable only by the curves of her body. At first he thought she was human, wearing some sort of strange helmet, but then he saw the odd camber of her legs, the way her knee joints bent in a way that human knees simply couldn't. This, he realised, must be a quarian. He'd never seen one before.

"Commander Shepard, Alliance military," their leader said, standing in front of him. She had an odd, commanding presence despite her youth; he was willing to bet she wasn't any older than his daughter, Flora. It had been months since he'd seen his little girl, though she stopped being little a long time ago. He missed her, and he hoped to god that he'd make it out of this alive, to see her again.

He returned her introduction. "Captain James Ventralis, leader of the ERCS forces assigned to Binary Helix. Sorry about the friendly-fire, Commander. Things are tough down here. My men and I have been guarding the perimeter round the clock. We've learnt not to take any chances."

"That's alright Captain, I understand," she said. And he got the strong feeling that she _did._

"I hope your colleague is alright," he said. Running his eyes over the krogan, he found no sign of injury, but that didn't mean the huge creature hadn't taken offence.

"Just as long as it wasn't... personal," the krogan said, clenching his fist and cracking his knuckles.

"What's the situation here, Captain?" Commander Shepard asked him.

He sighed. Where was he supposed to start? The reactor going offline? The first deaths? The carnage wrought by the alien creatures? The screams of agony as his guards were over-run? Shaking his head, he tried to collect his thoughts. No point going to pieces now. He still had a perimeter to defend. Besides, Benezia had been _very_ specific about how to deal with Shepard, once she arrived.

"To be honest, I only have half the story myself, Commander," he said. "The first I knew of trouble was when a lock-down of the hot lab was initiated. I was evacuating scientists when these alien things showed up. Lost half my men in the first wave. They cut off our access to the trams, and I ordered everyone to fall back here. This is a strong, defensible position. We've been here for the past five days."

"Did these alien hostiles come from inside the lab, or did are they an external threat?" Shepard asked.

"I don't have a clue. I'd never seen them before the lock-down was initiated. It would be a pretty big coincidence if they just happened to show up when containment was broken, though. There _is_ a survivor," he admitted. "One of the scientists, Han Olar, managed to make it out of the hot lab, but he's not up to saying much. Whatever happened in there affected him pretty badly. I think he's in shock. Or whatever the volus equivalent of shock is."

Her blue eyes assessed him calmly, no doubt taking in his jittery demeanour and too-wide eyes. His hand was shaking ever so slightly, a side effect of too many stims in his system. But it was either that or fall asleep and allow his position to be overrun by aliens. If that happened, everybody here would die. Sleep deprivation and a bit of stim reliance was a small price to pay. He owed it, to Flora, to make it out of this one alive.

"I'd like to speak with this survivor, Captain," she said. Though she phrased it as a request, he recognised it as anything but. He'd heard enough polite orders in his time... even given a few out."

"He's hiding out in one of the back rooms," Ventralis told her, pointing his thumb behind him at the corridor which led off go the secure area, where all the scientists and half of his guards were waiting for rescue. He didn't have the heart to tell them that rescue might not come. Most of them already suspected as much.

"Thank you," she said. "One more thing. Has an asari Matriarch named Benezia been through here recently?"

"Yeah," he said, swallowing despite his parched throat. "She went down into the hot lab yesterday."

"And she's still there?"

"Well, I haven't seen her since, so I assume so," he said. "I can give you my access card, if you want to go and speak to her."

"I would appreciate that," she said. She watched him, her eyes seas of calmness, as he took out his access card from a pocket of his suit, and handed it to her. Cursing the stims for making his hand shake, he let go of the card, and she took it, pocketing it herself. A thought crossed his mind, then, and it was a measure of how tired he was that he hadn't thought to question it sooner.

"If you don't mind me asking, commander, what's the Alliance doing out here on Noveria? And specifically at Peak 15?" he asked her.

"We've been investigating a geth attack on Eden Prime. Their trail led us here," she said. "Whilst investigating, we heard that there might be some problems up here. We thought we'd come and check it out in case the geth were involved."

"Geth? Attacking Eden Prime?" He shook his head. News was slow to come to Peak 15... sometimes it even felt as if the outside world didn't exist. If it wasn't for the picture of Flora that he kept by his bed, he might even doubt there was life outside this place too. "Well, I haven't seen any geth here so far," he said honestly, thanking god or heaven or anything else that he hadn't. Geth on top of alien insects could only make things worse.

"Captain," she said thoughtfully, "while I'm here, I could order a couple of my crew to replace your guards, if they'd like a rest. We're all pretty fresh and well-rested."

"Thank you, commander," he replied. "But unless you're planning to stay for a few hours, and I would strongly advise against it, I'm afraid your people couldn't replace my men for long enough to give them the sleep we need. Don't worry, we'll manage. Perhaps if you speak with Lady Benezia, you'll be able to help her right whatever wrong has happened here, and we can all go home."

"You've been most helpful, Captain," Shepard said. She stepped past him, and her motley crew followed. Only after she had gone did another thought cross his mind: Just what sort of Alliance soldier travelled with a krogan, a turian, an asari and a quarian anyway?

o - o - o - o - o

Ellie strode along the corridor in the direction that Ventralis had indicated. If she could find Han Olar, she might finally get some long-overdue answers. She would, naturally, be as gentle with the volus as possible, but she _needed_ intel, and she needed it soon. She could feel the tension in the air here, and it made the tension between Ash and Garrus seem like nothing in comparison. This situation was bad. The guards were fatigued and jumping at anything that moved. It wouldn't be long before this place erupted, and when it did, the walls and ceilings would run red with blood.

"How come you didn't tell Ventralis you're a Spectre, or that Matriarch Benezia is the one who brought geth with her, Skipper?" Ash asked from behind.

"Because he was lying."

"About what?"

"I don't know. But he wasn't being honest about something."

"How can you tell?" Liara asked. "I can't even spot when one of you humans is telling a joke, much less lying about something. He appeared honest, to me."

"I've had special training," she explained. "Originally, I wasn't supposed to be deployed as a regular soldier. I was given a intensive course in psychology to help me to understand the subtle nuances of unspoken cues and body language."

"And... what did Ventralis' body language tell you?"

"That he is exhausted, almost at the edge of his abilities, and liable to make rash choices without fully considering the consequences. The signs that he was lying were quite obvious. His hands were shaking, and his pupils dilated."

"Both signs of heavy stim abuse," Garrus pointed out. "I saw it on the Citadel all the time. I'm guessing these guards are using stims to keep them awake."

"Maybe, but there were other things, too. After he gave me his access card, he wouldn't look me in the eye. The moment I mentioned Benezia, his jaw tightened and his body became a little stiffer; defensive behaviour."

"Those all seem rather... vague things, to use to accuse somebody of lying," Tali said. "I didn't notice any changes within his behaviour."

"Probably because quarians rely less on body language than other species. No offence, but when you're inside a suit, you don't give as much away."

"Trust me," Kaidan said, patting Ellie on the shoulder, "you don't want to play poker with this woman. She'll clean you out every time."

"Ventralis smelt like fear, to me," Wrex said. "I could smell it on his guards, too. The only thing keeping them from running is knowing they don't have anywhere to run to."

"What do you think's going on here, Skipper?" asked Ash.

"I don't know," she said grimly. "But I plan to find out."

o - o - o - o - o

He had seen death. It had escaped from containment and spread across the floor like water flowing from a leaking cup. It had taken the scientists closest to the containment field first, overwhelming them with acid and spear-like tentacles that reaved flesh and sinew. There had been blood, so much blood, spattering the walls, smeared across the holding tanks, painting the lab red.

It was their folly. They had wakened what they should have left sleeping, and tried to chain a beast that could not be tamed. With the benefit of hind-sight they had thought they could play creator, that they could control instead of destroy. Had it worked, it would have given them a weapon that all others would tremble before. It would have advanced science with medical break-throughs and improved xenobiotic understanding. How many others would have done the same in their place? How many others would have said "yes, let's try it", instead of "no, let's be afraid"? They were paying the price, now, for being brave and foolish enough to continue.

There were times, when the shadows were dark and the guards jumped at nothing, that he thought he hadn't ever left that lab. Sometimes he believed he was still down there, dead, and that this was punishment for the contributions he had made towards the project. Death was trapping him here, in this nightmare, forcing him to remain on the station as he had forced it to remain in observation tanks. That was the core of their mistake. How could you hope to study death, and expect death not to study you back?

A group approached him, newcomers to this hall of death, this nightmare of madness and blood, led by a woman of the earth-clan. In her eyes he saw the same haunted look that he had seen in the eyes of Dr Zhonmua, and he knew that she had seen death stalking the corridors of this place.

"Excuse me," said the earth-clan, "are you Han Olar?"

"Yes," he replied. "What's left of him, anyway."

"I see. My name's Commander Shepard, I'm with the Alliance military. I was hoping to ask you a few questions."

"You've come about the rachni, haven't you?" he said, already knowing the answer.

"Rachni?" The earth-clan sounded shocked. He was amazed she hadn't been able to figure it out for herself before now... but then, the rachni had been extinct for two-thousand years. Everybody knew that. There was no reason to think alien insectoids on Noveria were rachni.

"Yes," he said. And then, because that didn't sound like enough of an explanation, "we made them."

"You _cloned_ rachni?" a second earth-clan woman asked. She did not look pleased; her expression was one of a person who had just got the worst end of an important trade.

"No, we _made_ them," he elaborated. "An egg was found aboard a drifting rachni vessel, suspended in cryogenic hibernation. Binary Helix brought it here, and we woke it up. We planned to clone them, but it wasn't required. Out of the egg came a queen, who in time matured and bore more eggs. When they hatched, we took them away from her, hoping to raise them ourselves to be... pliable."

"You tried to _tame_ rachni?" a krogan asked angrily. "Don't you people ever learn?"

"We thought we knew what we were doing. We thought we could control them. It turned out to be a mistake. Without the influence of the queen, they became violent monsters, driven to destruction. We signed our death warrants the moment we took them from their mother."

"You signed your death warrants the minute you chose to hatch that egg instead of destroying the ship!"

"Wrex," the earth-clan said, holding up her hand. The krogan backed down, grumbling with anger like a bubbling volcano before an eruption. "Mr Olar," the earth-clan said, "what were Binary Helix planning to do with the rachni, once they were controlled?"

"Turn them into an army, of course," he said. "What else would they want with the most dangerous creatures ever to have lived?"

"Hey," the krogan said. "We wiped out the rachni. That makes the _krogan_ the most dangerous creatures ever to have lived. And don't you forget it."

"How in the name of the goddess did you manage to survive once the rachni had broken containment?" asked a slender asari. Her blue eyes were wide, full of empathy and compassion. It was not something he wanted to see. He did not deserve either of them. He deserved death... but he had cheated it, stolen his life from its cold clutches.

"I killed her," he said plainly.

"Killed who?" a male earth-clan asked. He hovered protectively between the two females.

"Doctor Zhonmua." Hers was the face he saw whenever he closed his eyes to blink. "I was on my way to lunch when I heard the containment alarm sound. I ran to the elevator. She was behind me. I closed the door. She banged on the window once, then her head exploded like a melon."

"Goddess," the asari whispered, her eyes going wider.

"Help us make her death worth something, Mr Olar," the earth-clan Shepard said.

"You think I want absolution?" he asked rhetorically. "There is none. We are all dead."

"I'm not giving up on us yet, but I need a way to track the rachni. At present they're getting the jump on us because our scanners can't detect them. Anything at all you can do to help me would be greatly appreciated."

He considered her request. Unlike the other two who had escaped from the hot lab, he no longer cared about his job. What was a job, when your life was forfeit, and death was stalking you? Perhaps, though... perhaps if the earth-clan could kill death itself, no more would have to die here. Not today, not ever.

"Take this," he said, producing an optical storage device from the pocket of his utility belt. "It's the data we have on the rachni physiology. You should be able to update your scanners with it. As well, we've discovered that the are quite susceptible to biotic fields. They have no natural defences against biotics."

"Thank you, Han," she said, slipping the OSD into her omni-tool's data port. "I'll make sure this is put to good use. You've done a good thing."

A good thing. A strange thing for the earth-clan to say. The only thing he had done was pay for his death with another. But he already knew that death didn't bargain. He would pay the full price soon enough.

o - o - o - o - o

"That volus was crazy," Garrus said, as Ellie led her team out of the elevator.

"When you've survived something like that, it makes you a special kind of crazy," she replied. And she ought to know. She had been in Han Olar's shoes. She had watched friends die. She had carried the responsibility and burden for their deaths for years. The volus' recovery was not going to be swift, if he ever recovered at all.

"Good job I'm here, Shepard," Wrex said, his deep red eyes scanning the large room full of scientists and twitchy guards. "The krogan saved the galaxy from the rachni once, and now I'm here to do it again. You do understand that I expect another statue on the Citadel, right? And I want this one to be in my likeness. And a plaque, beneath it, to say 'When the rest of the civilised races screwed up, the galaxy was saved from giant monsters by a krogan. Again'. I think it's something future generations of krogan children can look up to."

"We get out of this alive, and I think the Council should put up statues of _all_ of us," Tali said.

"Where to now, Skipper?" asked Ash.

Ellie looked around the room. She'd already spoken to all of the scientists and the lone elcor merchant. God only knew how _he'd_ escaped the rachni - the elcor weren't the speediest of species.

"Maybe we should go to the hot lab," Liara suggested. "Not that I'm saying we _should_, or that I'm trying to promote my own agenda! I just think... if Benezia is there, perhaps she can finally give us some answers."

Ellie glanced down at omni-tool, at the progress bar it was displaying. "Not yet," she said. "My O-T is still processing all the data given to us by Olar. It's going to be a short time before it can come up with a way to scan for rachni, and I don't want to go anywhere _near_ that lab until I have a viable way of tracking them.

"Does it matter how many there are?" Wrex asked. "If there's ten, we'll kill them. If there's ten-thousand, we'll kill as many as we can before they kill us."

"A very... pragmatic... approach," said Tali.

"Well, there's still an elevator we haven't checked out," said Kaidan, pointing further down the room. "If it leads to more people, I think we have a responsibility to talk to them."

"A responsibility to talk to the morons who created rachni?" Ash scoffed.

"Yes," he replied calmly. "El... Shepard's a Spectre now. When this thing hits the media, or the authorities, which I'm certain it will, she owes it to the dead and the innocent to make sure the blame's laid in the proper place. A lot of these scientists are culpable. They knew what they were doing. But the guards, the merchants, and the rest of the scientists working on other projects... they didn't deserve this, chief. Somebody needs to find the truth. Somebody needs to remember everything that happened here. And I think that somebody should be us.

"Alright, L-T, I can see your logic," Ash sighed. "I guess I'm just less about talking and more about action."

"If you ever want to be an officer some day," Ellie told her, "you'll have to learn to use your head and your mouth, and not just your finger."

Taking the rebuke to heart, Ash firmly zipped her lips, and they all piled in to the next elevator. Though what had happened here was a terrible tragedy, Ellie could find at least _one_ silver lining; her ground-team was united against a common enemy. Forced to fight or die together, they'd chosen to fight, and the lingering animosity that was usually present between Garrus and Wrex, or Ash and just about any of the alien crew-members, was practically non-existent. Sometimes it really did take war to bring people together. And sometimes 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' proved true.

When the elevator stopped she stepped out, into a small medical surgery. Four patients were lying on beds, groaning in agony, tended to by a single tired-looking human doctor. He glanced up at their approach, but didn't stop his work.

"If you're not sick, I don't have time for you," he said. Then he _did_ stop, and narrowed his eyes. "Wait a minute... you're not guards. Who are you, and how did you reach this facility?"

"Commander Shepard, Alliance military," she replied, finally getting used to saying 'commander' instead of 'lieutenant'. "Who are you?"

"Dr Zev Cohen," he replied. "I'm one of the microbiologists here at Binary Helix."

"Were you working on the rachni too?" Garrus asked.

"Rachni?" He looked shocked. "Is that what those alien creatures are? No. I didn't even know what they were. I thought the rachni were long extinct."

"Then what are you doing here?" Ellie asked. Nearby, one of the patients groaned. "And what's wrong with these men?"

"They were exposed to a biotoxin called Thoros-B," he said. Then he sighed. "Look, you're probably going to poke around until you find out anyway, so I'll tell you, if you promise to help me."

"I can't make that promise," she said. "I have a mission of my own here. But if you tell me what's happened, and I _can_ help you, then I will."

"Thoros-B," he explained, "was originally developed from an exotic life-form discovered somewhere on the frontier. But Binary Helix didn't see the point in developing a biotoxin to kill just one species. Me and my team developed it further, so that it would affect more."

"I _knew_ they were making bio-weapons here!" Ash said, finally vindicated.

"There's a reason bio-weapons are banned by the Council, doctor," Ellie told the man.

"War leaders will always get their hands on bio-weapons," he countered, as if his logic absolved him of guilt. "We were trying to limit the damage they do. You see, Thoros-B, once deployed, can affect a large area directly, but it's not infectious. There's no possibility of it spreading from patient to patient."

"You're a regular humanitarian, doc," said Kaidan.

"Did you expose these people on purpose?" she demanded. Cohen looked horrified by the suggestion.

"Of course not! What sort of monster do you take me for?"

"The sort who would create bio-weapons?"

"Commander," he said, "we were working in one of the Thoros-B labs when one of the other experiments... rachni, I assume... broke containment. A lockdown was initiated and the computer core taken offline. Without the computer to maintain our own containment, the Thoros-B was released, infecting these men."

"I already brought Mira back online before coming here."

"That was you?" Relief and gratitude were etched onto his face. "I owe you a great debt. Since the station's medical doctor was killed by the rachni, I've been drafted in to cover. I've been doing my best for these men, but without the computer core, I could not have kept them alive."

"Why don't you just cure them?" she asked. "I assume you _do_ have a cure for this deadly biotoxin you've created?"

"We were working on a cure just before containment collapsed. Unfortunately, the work is unfinished. Somebody needs to go to the lab and finish what we started."

"I can see where this is going," she said, "and I fear you've mistaken me for somebody who knows _anything_ about biology. My ship's doctor might have helped, but we're cut off from her."

"Then maybe somebody else here can help you," he replied. "There is also another problem, however. Captain Ventralis has sealed my lab and won't allow entry, even though I have promised him that it's safe."

"Just how sure are you?"

"A hundred percent. Thoros-B has a very short life, outside of a body. There is no danger of contagion."

"I'll see what I can do, but I make no promises," she told him.

"Thank you. I appreciate your assistance. It's more than the guards were willing to do. I've been administering stims to them at Ventralis' request, but I'm not happy about it."

"How long do your patients have?"

"A matter of hours."

"Then I'll get back to you," she said.

Back in the elevator, it was obvious her friends had about as much faith in her ability to cure diseases as she did.

"Commander," said Kaidan, "how the hell are you going to formulate a cure for a biotoxin? You can't even remember the difference between the radius and the ulna."

"Don't worry," she said, full of confidence. "I know just the person to help me."

o - o - o - o - o

Dr Palon fingered the packet of the nutri-bar, toying with it as he decided whether or not to open it. He wasn't truly hungry, and hadn't been since the first moment he'd seen one of the aliens. He hadn't known what they were, then, but he'd since heard a word mentioned, always in whispers, by men and women who looked around cautiously before daring to voice it. _Rachni._

His employers had had him working on studying a toxin that they claimed was from a new life-form. They wouldn't let him _see_ the life-form, but they wanted him to find a way to defend against it, and if necessary, cure the effects of it burning through a body and poisoning an organic system. It wasn't easy. The susbstance was _highly_ acidic, capable of burning its way through even strong alloys. Even when it was contained, it was dangerous. A single splash could burn through skin in just a few seconds. Water could dilute it, but that wasn't of much use if it was already in the body.

He suspected he knew exactly what the acid was, now. Rachni venom. That was why he hadn't been allowed to study the creature it came from. Binary Helix xenobiologists were already studying it, trying to learn its secrets. The bosses didn't like scientists from different projects talking to each other. They'd all been asked to sign _strict_ non-disclosure agreements, preventing them from discussing anything about their projects with anybody other than their own teams. Unfortunately, there was nobody from his division left. His team leader, and the other three toxicologists, had been killed by the rachni in the initial confusion, right after Mira had been taken offline. There had been panic, darkness, screams of pain and screeches of anger. Men and women knocked each other over in their haste to flee the carnage no matter how well the guards tried to keep order.

A shadow fell across his nutri-bar, and he looked up. The human woman, Shepard, was standing over him, her blue eyes watching him. He shivered. The guards were bad enough, but soldiers gave him the creeps. What kind of a person _enjoyed_ fighting and killing? There was no telling what soldiers would do to you, if pushed hard enough. That's why, when she'd talked to him earlier, he'd tried to stay on her good side, telling him everything he knew (that didn't breach the confidentially clause of his contract, of course).

"Commander Shepard!" he said, standing up and wishing that his words hadn't come out as a frightened squeak. "Is there something else I can do for you?"

"As a matter of fact, there is." Suspiciously, she put an arm around his shoulders and began herding him towards one of the lifts. "Several members of Dr Cohen's team have been infected with a non-contagious substance called Thoros-B. You're going to help me synthesise a cure, so that we can save a few lives here."

"Thoros-B?" he asked, confused. "But I've never even heard of it! All I was doing what studying the effects of rachni venom on organic tissue. Not that there's any rachni here!" he said hurriedly. "In fact, the aliens look suspiciously similar to mutated Kepler Crabs. Maybe they're a new strain." She gave him a blank look, and he sighed. "They didn't tell me what sort of venom I was working on. But once I started hearing the word 'rachni' thrown around, it wasn't a great leap. But honestly, without knowing anything about Thoros-B, the chances of me being able to create a cure for it are _slim._"

"I am a soldier," she said. "I have a gun. I shoot stuff. I'm sure whatever you can do will be better than anything I can do."

"I... suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to take a look," he admitted.

"Commander, I don't like the thought of you going down there alone," said a human male, hovering close to Shepard.

"I'll be alright," Shepard replied confidentially. "Now that Ventralis has given me permission to enter, I doubt the guards will give me any more trouble."

"I will go with you, Shepard," a new voice said. A quarian woman stepped forward. A quarian! Here! On Noveria! He hoped the guards were nailing down anything mobile... no telling what she might pilfer when their backs were turned. "My suit protects me from such hazards."

"I'm coming too, Shepard," said a nearby krogan. Probably a mercenary hired by Shepard to fight the rachni. If that's what they were. Which they probably weren't. Oh, he was _so_ going to lose his job over this! "What's down there can't be any worse than the genophage."

"Funny," said a turian man, "I didn't think creating biotoxin cures in plague-zones was your sort of party, Wrex."

"What?" Palon demanded. "A plague zone?"

Shepard spoke up, attempting to do that soothing thing with her voice that humans tried to do whenever they thought you were upset about something. "Dr Cohen assures me that the toxin that was released when Mira's containment field went offline is no longer viable. It's perfectly safe. Would I be going down there if it wasn't?"

"Maybe. Soldiers are crazy. And humans even moreso," he said. "A plague zone is _not_ something I signed up for!"

"Let me put it this way," Shepard said. Her eyes looked frightening now, in the dim light. "You can help me save these mens' lives, or I'll shoot you. Not anywhere lethal. Just the foot. I'll have to do paperwork when I get back to my ship, but if that's what it takes to motivate you, then I consider it a fair trade."

He gulped. Everybody knew that humans were only slightly more merciful than turians, where their enemies were concerned, and Shepard already had a turian with her. If _she_ didn't shoot him, _he_ probably would. Besides, Dr Cohen was very clever, for a human. If he said the toxin was no threat, it was probably true. Presuming his calculations were correct. Which they might not be. Hearing a clicking noise, he looked up from his study of the floor and saw Shepard casually inspecting her gun.

"I... uh... toxin. Yes, I can definitely help you there," he said, his survival instincts kicking in.

"Excellent," she smiled. "I knew you'd see sense. Right this way, please."

She, along with the krogan and the quarian, escorted him into a lift, which slowly began to descend. As the lift took him further down into the facility, closer to Dr Cohen's lab, his mind raced. Well, it raced more than usual. Even when he was getting his hour of daily sleep, his mind was constantly working, dreaming, analysing, putting things into their rightful place. How the other species, such as humans and turians, managed to sleep for a whole eight or nine hours each _day_ was a mystery. No wonder they were so much slower than salarians; it must take their bodies and minds half the day just to boot back up to normal speed again, after such a long down-time!

Rachni. Plagues. Frozen wasteland of Noveria, nothing but snow and ice and occasional mystery sounds from the hot lab. Was his job truly worth all this stress? Granted, the pay was good. Better than good. BH was the best private sector employer. They had the best grants, the best labs, the best guards... when they weren't hopped up on stims, of course. And then there was the thrill of discovery! Every day brought new challenges, and new achievements. The work he was doing today might one day save lives. Or maybe end them. Sometimes, working here, in the solitude of Peak 15's Rift Station, the line between the two became blurred. He preferred to think that his work was, one day, going to _affect_ lives. How exactly it affected them was entirely up to the people who paid his substantial wages.

The elevator stopped and they all departed. He saw Han Olar standing a short distance away, and shook his head. Word was the volus had been driven insane by the things he'd seen in the hot lab. Granted, he didn't look much like a raving lunatic at the moment, but perhaps inside that pressure suit he was dribbling and giggling like a madman.

There was a single guard outside Cohen's lab, and Palon desperately wished that the turian man would prevent them from entering. But he didn't. He just watched as Shepard walked on by, into the so-called plague zone, with an expression on his face that suggested he thought she was nuts. Palon didn't even get chance to hesitate; the krogan prodded him forward, in what was probably a gentle manner in krogan terms, but almost shoved Palon halfway down the laboratory corridor.

"This is it," Shepard said, stepping into the dimly lit area. "You work, we'll keep watch."

"For what?" he asked. "Are you expecting the toxin to figure out how to fire a gun and come charging at me?"

"The rachni have shown an ability to access remote areas through heating tunnels and ventilation shafts," the commander replied calmly.

"Oh." He gulped again and hurried towards the active work-station. All of the data regarding Thoros-B was available, as well as the information regarding the attempts to synthesis a cure. It seemed Cohen's team were close. Very close. They'd made one or two mistakes which they hadn't gotten around to correcting yet, but if he could _just_ run a few simulations...

Half an hour later he stood up from the seat at the desk, clutching a hypo-vial in his hands. In this was the cure he had created, using the blueprints Cohen's team had mapped out. Synthesising the cure had been much less difficult than he had thought. Thoros-B was complex, but made easier to cure because of its non-contagious nature. And, thankfully, he seemed to be showing no signs of infection himself. Perhaps the lab really _was_ safe.

The lab door opened, and in strode one of the other project scientists, Alestia Iallis. With her was another asari, and two other people who, at first glance, he thought were quarians. When he looked again, however, he saw they were not people at all. They were synthetics... geth... and his blood ran cold at the sight of them.

"Ah, Commander Shepard," Alestia said.

Palon could sense the tension in the air, now. It was like seeing two varren face one another, growling and baring their teeth, deciding which would be the first to attack.

"Alestia!" he called out, surprising himself with his own bravery. "What is all this about? What are you doing down here?"

"Ah, Dr Palon," she said, smiling. But the smile was a cruel one, holding no warmth, and it did not reach her pale eyes. "I should have known you'd be in bed with the Spectre." She must have seen the confusion on his face, for she laughed and continued. "Let me guess, Shepard didn't tell you she's a Spectre?"

Ohhh... a Spectre? He was _definitely_ going to lose his job over this.

"Iallis," Shepard said calmly, her voice doing that soothing thing again, "I know that you're working for Benezia. Whatever problem she has with me, please let it go, just for a short time. We need to get the cure Doctor Palon has created to a group of men in the clinic. Without it, they'll die."

"My heart bleads, Shepard," Alestia said coldly. "And so will yours!"

Fast reflexes saved Palon's life. As the geth opened fire and the asari started throwing biotic fields around, he jumped over the desk, cowering behind it, his arms covering his head, as if _that_ would stop a bullet. For what seemed like an eternity, all he could hear was the sound of guns firing, of bullets hitting the walls. One of them must have hit the computer console, because it erupted in a shower of sparks, some of which reached the floor, and Dr Cohen's work went with it.

At last there was silence, but he dared not look over the desk. What if Shepard was dead? What if Alestia and her homicidal machines had been victorious? He wasn't ready to die. He still had so much to live for. So many scientific breakthroughs to discover. So many awards to win. So much money to make!

As he huddled behind the desk, his arms still over his head, he heard footsteps. Opening his eyes, he saw boots approach, crunching as they stepped on broken glass. Swallowing his fear, he looked up. And then up, and up. At last he saw a face, and was incredibly relieved that it wasn't blue. Or a flashlight.

"Good thinking, Doctor," said Shepard.

"Er... it was?" he asked, letting her help him to his feet.

"Yes." She glanced at the vial in his hand. "That cure is too valuable to lose. You were right to protect it. For a moment I was worried you might try to join in the fight."

"Yes... well... it was a tough decision," he said, feeling a little braver now. "But I knew those men in Cohen's team needed my help more than you did."

The krogan snorted in disgust, and Palon took a step backwards. Shepard plucked the cure from his hand before he could even react.

"Did you know Iallis well?" she asked casually.

"Me? No," he assured her, shaking his head for emphasis. "She wasn't part of my team, and she only arrived about a month ago. A molecular geneticist assigned to one of the other projects. I saw her around a couple of times, and she seemed friendly enough... are you really a Spectre?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, and he felt his heart sink. "Lucky for you that I am, otherwise I would not be here now, and this whole area would likely have been overrun by rachni."

"Shepard," the quarian said, returning to the room. Palon blinked. He hadn't even seen her leave. "The guard outside is dead. And Han Olar claims he saw the geth come out of a back corridor. A maintenance area. It's locked now, but he says that Cohen, as project lead, has a pass."

"Then we need to speak to Cohen immediately. When Benezia realises her commandos failed, she'll only send more. If we're going to get everyone out of this alive, we can't afford any more casualties."

"Err, Shepard," Palon said, acutely aware that she'd saved his life more than once since showing up. "I, ah, just thought you should know... the guards have been a little more on edge, since you arrived. I, ah, I thought that was odd. Heavily-armed reinforcements shouldn't make them nervous, right?"

"Right," she said, patting his shoulder. "Thanks, Doctor. You've done good work here today."

He nodded. Maybe he had. And maybe, if he was _really_ lucky, he'd still have a job afterwards.

o - o - o - o - o

As Ellie walked alone down the corridor, she concentrated on steady breathing, and tried counting to ten. When that didn't work, she counted another ten. Then, on a whim, she tried counting sheep. It wasn't effective. Approaching Ventralis' position, she consciously relaxed her hands. She didn't want to come across as angry or aggressive. Confident and in command, yes, but a good leader didn't let their anger show. It was a weakness that your enemies could exploit.

"Captain," she said, and he turned to face her. As did his two guards. That they'd taken their attention away from the perimeter showed how badly their judgment had been impaired through lack of sleep and stim use. "New orders."

"Orders?" he asked, confusion painting his tired face. "Where from?"

"From me."

"I don't take orders from you, Commander."

"You do now," she said, drilling him with her gaze as she had seen Admiral Parsons do in the past. "I'm not here as an officer of the Alliance military. I'm here as a Spectre."

"There are no humans Spectres," the turian guard scoffed.

She did not respond to the accusation, merely continued looking at Ventralis, seeing the suspicious and uncertainty in his eyes.

"I am here investigating Saren Arterius and Matriarch Benezia. Two of your shareholders. They are responsible for the geth attack on Eden Prime. I know that you lied to me, Captain. I know that Benezia isn't in the hot lab." His eyes went a little wider at her accusation, and his guards lifted their guns. Luckily, they didn't shoot. "I don't know what orders she gave you... whether she told you to kill me yourself, or whether she just wanted you to lure me into a trap, so that her commandos could do it. But when I find her, I'm placing her under arrest and hauling her back to the Citadel to stand trial. I have no doubt her assets will be seized, and subjected to a _thorough_ investigation. Do you _really_ want to continue following her orders?"

"I... I don't know what else to do," he admitted.

"What you will do," she told him, "is gather your men and escort the scientists to the tram. There, you will all return to Central Station, and wait."

"We can't evacuate! The rachni-"

"Aren't going to be a problem for much longer. As soon as I've taken Benezia into custody, I'm going to activate the hot lab's neutron purge. The Rift Station will sink into the glacier, taking the rachni, and anybody who is left on this station, with it. Now, my people are already back there, helping bring the wounded up from the clinic, and getting the scientists ready to go. One of your guards was killed by an asari commando, but the rest of you should be able to make it to the tram without too many problems. Now that the computer core's back online, it's working perfectly. And since Benezia is no longer your benefactor, you have no further reason to wait here under her instructions."

She could tell he was unsure of what to do. As much as he wanted to believe her, to listen to her, he had his orders from the people who paid his wages. He needed extra convincing, but not the sort of convincing that she had given to Palon.

"James," she said, stepping forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. "What I'm offering you is a way out. Not just for you, but for everybody. The guards under your command, and the scientists you protect. Benezia is a wanted criminal now, and she's facing some pretty hefty charges. My death won't solve anything. Not only do my crew know about Benezia's involvement with Peak 15 and the rachni experiments, but very soon, the Council will too. There's going to be an investigation into Binary Helix. Do you really want them to ask you why hindered a Spectre's investigation, and why you followed the orders of a wanted criminal? Nobody else has to die here today. I think there's been more than enough death already."

Back-up came from an unlikely source.

"I have a little girl," one of the guards, the human man, said. "Jessica. She's two years old, though I haven't seen her in three months. I took this job for her, so that I could buy her the best things in life... but I don't want her to grow up without a daddy. If we make it out of this, I'm going to transfer back home. Or find a less dangerous job. I don't care what it is, as long as I get to see my daughter's face every night before I go to sleep."

"Alright," Ventralis sighed. "We'll evacuate. It's what we should have done as soon as the computer came back online. For what it's worth, Shepard, I'm sorry. I didn't like lying to you, but I was under orders. You know what that's like, right?"

"I understand," she said. "I don't like it, but I understand. And you're doing the right thing now, so I'm willing to let it be water under the bridge."

"Thank you. Get your people to send the rest of the guards and the scientists down to us, and we'll do the rest. And if you're looking for Benezia-"

"I already know where Benezia is," she assured him. "And I'm going to be having some very strong words with her as soon as your group is away." It was time to get some answers. Whatever Benezia was to Saren, she obviously had some power. Perhaps enough to help stop the rogue Spectre before he attacked another colony.

* * *

A/N: Hi guys. Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. In my continual quest to use this story to mix things up and experiment with formats, you'll notice that a fair chunk of it is told from the survivor POV. It definitely made for interesting writing, so I hope it made for interesting reading, too.

Just to give you a quick update of where I am, after a long and quite eventful week off work which I've mostly filled with writing for this story, I am unfortunately back at work on Monday, so you should expect less frequent updates after that point. I _am_ hoping to get another chapter up this weekend, maybe even two. Fear not; we're not running off to Feros right away. Things you can look forward to in the near future include more character development, shock revelations (well, not really) and some 'minor' side missions which have important implications for crew-members.

Also, it's good to see so many of you reading, and hopefully enjoying, this story. Thanks for your continued patronage.


	26. Last of her kind

Deus Ex Machina

_26. Last of her kind_

Liara followed Shepard down the long corridor. Her gun was shaking in her hands and her stomach felt as if it wanted to be rid of the last meal she'd eaten, but she tried her best to hide her fear. None of the others were showing signs of fear... but then, none of the others were going to face their mother and demand answers for difficult questions. None of the others had mothers who were well-respected Matriarchs. Otherwise, they would know exactly how she felt.

The corridor leading to the maintenance area was suspiciously quiet. Where were the commandos? The geth? Why was there no resistance? It was almost as if Benezia _wanted_ them to proceed. Did she even know that her daughter was here? If so, would she be surprised to see Liara away from the dig sites which had been her home for the past fifty years? Or would Benezia simply no longer care for anything her daughter did? Maybe, she thought, and her heart sank as the thought crossed her mind, Benezia had been driven to aiding Saren out of disappointment over Liara's refusal to follow in her footsteps. The thought was almost too much to bear.

Glancing at Shepard, she saw the young woman slip a new clip into her pistol; rounds that were damaging to organics, rather than synthetics. The commander seemed so sure this confrontation was going to end in violence. Was she being pessimistic, or realistic? Was it too much to hope, that they could all just talk about their problems, and find a way to overcome them without resorting to fighting?

"Life signs," Shepard said, stopping at a closed door. Her omni-tool scanner was active. "Two. No energy signatures, but that doesn't mean there aren't geth inside. As soon as I give the all-clear, I want you all to enter and find cover. Those two life signs might be rachni, or asari commandos, but I don't want to take any chances."

"I think we're all ready, commander," said Kaidan.

There was a round of nods, and Liara joined them. Yes, she was ready. This was what she had come for, why she was here - well, it was _part_ of the reason she was here - and she couldn't put it off any longer. The festering wound of bad feeling between she and her mother needed to be healed.

Shepard opened the door, her gun raised to chest height, and peered around the door frame, into the room. "Liara!" she hissed.

Taking a deep breath, Liara joined her, looking towards something Shepard was pointing at. There, she saw her. Benezia. Dressed in a long, regal dress with ornate head-gear, standing tall and straight and proud upon a platform. She was looking at something, something in a large tank... Liara saw it, and froze. It was the biggest rachni she had ever seen. Granted, she hadn't seen _any_ rachni, before today, but this thing was immense, approaching the Mako in size. "The queen," she whispered, and Shepard nodded.

"Liara, you're with me," Shepard said. "The rest of you, fan out. Cover us, but make sure you can get to cover in a heartbeat."

As the team moved out, Shepard lowered her gun. She still kept it in her hand - no doubt her military training prevented her from doing anything else - but it was no longer in a threatening position. Liara put her own gun away. If it came to violence, she could fire a gun, but it was not the weapon she was most familiar with, and it could not defend, only attack. Together, she and Shepard stepped forward.

Her pulse began to race as she approached her mother. Her mouth grew dry as they climbed the steps. Benezia seemed not to notice them, at first, and when she did, she reacted only by turning her head. Her eyes... her blue eyes were so cold. There was nothing of the warmth Liara remembered in them. It was almost as if a stranger looked out from them, a stranger who did not recognise or care about who was nearing her now.

"You come here," Benezia said, the coldness in her voice radiating across the room, matching the coldness in her eyes, "not knowing what it is to be a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it towards happiness or despair." She looked back to the rachni queen. "Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies. I won't be moved by sympathy. No matter who you bring to this confrontation."

"Liara's here by her own choice," Shepard said, and Benezia turned to face her, taking several paces forward. "Not because I asked her to be."

"Is that right?" Benezia said. Those cold eyes turned towards Liara herself. "And just what have you told her about me, Liara?"

"What could I tell her, mother?" she replied. "That you're evil? That you're insane? Should I explain how to kill you? We've barely spoken in fifty years. I don't know who you are anymore... so what could I say?"

"Have you ever faced a unit of asari commandos before, Commander Shepard?" Benezia asked. "Few humans have."

"You would order your own daughter to be attacked?" Shepard asked in disgust. By her side, her hand twitched, and the gun with it.

"I now realise I should have been stricter with her."

Liara should have recognised the signs, but she was so caught up in her emotions that it was too late. By the time Benezia had raised her hand, a biotic stasis field had surrounded her, and Shepard too. They could both watch, and listen, but they could not move. All they could do was observe as asari and geth flooded into the room. The response from Shepard's team was immediate. They opened fire, Kaidan and Wrex using their biotics to throw geth units at asari commandos, trying to keep their enemies off balance.

The moment the field surrounding her dissipated, Liara reached for her own biotic power, as Shepard stepped aside, ducking down behind a crate to return fire to a geth that was shooting at her. Safe within her biotic barrier, Liara turned to face her mother.

"You would dare challenge me?" Benezia snarled. "You, who were brought into this life by me? You, who only live today because of me?"

"I don't know what's happened to you, mother," she replied, trying to appeal to an older, gentler Benezia, one who had bought her history books, and watched as she played ancient asari puzzles. "I want to help you. Please don't make me fight you. It's the last thing I want."

"Your desires are no longer of concern to me," said Benezia. "That you believe otherwise only shows your weakness." She hurled a biotic field, which Liara blocked with one of her own.

"I'm not going to fight you, mother!" she insisted.

"Then you will die, along with your precious Spectre."

Another biotic field was hurled, then another, and another. Time after time Liara parried them, forced backwards towards the metal stairs. She did not glance around, to see how the rest of the team was doing, but she could hear weapons-fire, could see biotic fields sizzling through the air. And through it all, the rachni queen watched on from within her tank.

"Please, mother," Liara said, feeling her heel reach the top of the stairs. "Let me help you."

"I don't need your help, child! I am stronger than ever. I _know_ more than you. You and your precious Protheans. They were wiped out because they did not understand, just as you do not understand. I am taking us into the future, and you, short-sighted and impudent, would hold us back."

There was no other choice. She couldn't back up any further. Clinging to her biotic barrier, she retaliated, throwing a mass-effect field at her mother. The shock-wave knocked Benezia back, and when her head came up again, she looked furious. Her hands curled into fists, and she generated a singularity, trying to pull Liara towards it. Liara countered with another mass-effect field, causing the singularity to collapse. But Benezia was too fast. Even as Liara was preparing to unleash another attack, Benezia struck first. Liara felt herself lifted into the air, suspended there, as her mother raised her gun.

Suddenly, Shepard was there, taking aim.

"Shepard, no!" Liara called. No matter what Benezia had come, she was still her mother. She couldn't see her killed, not like this.

Shepard fired, a single bullet hitting Benezia in the shoulder, missing the heart. Benezia screamed in anger, and Liara dropped to the floor. Quickly, she scrambled to her feet, rushing towards her mother. She was stopped, knocked by a feeble biotic field thrown by Benezia.

And then there was silence. The gunfire ceased, and footsteps approached. Looking around, she saw the rest of the team surround Benezia, every weapon pointing at the Matriarch. Wrex's armour had been pierced in several places, leaking orange fluid. Whether suit coolant or blood, she did not know. Williams had a graze across her temple, whilst Garrus' combat visor was cracked down the middle. To say that they had gone up against asari commandos, they had got off lightly.

"This isn't over," Benezia said, backing off towards the rachni tank. Her hand was pressed over her shoulder, trying to stem the flow of blood that gushed out. "Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear. I will not betray him. You will... you..." She lifted a hand to her head, as if pained or dizzied. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, everything changed. Her posture relaxed, her the coldness left her eyes, and when she spoke, her voice was soft. "You must listen!" she said, in a tone of great urgency. "Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight his compulsions, briefly, but the indoctrination is strong."

"Mother?" Liara asked, truly seeing her mother for the first time since entering the room. She took a step forward, but Benezia held up her hand in warning.

"No, Liara, stay back. I... I am not myself."

"You're able to break free of his control _now_?" Shepard asked skeptically. "Why not earlier, when you were ordering your asari hit-squad to kill your own daughter?"

There was pain in Benezia's eyes at the accusation, but she did not deny it. Instead, she offered an explanation. "I sealed a part of my mind away from the indoctrination, saving it for a moment when I could help destroy him. It will not last long. You must understand, people are not themselves around Saren. They come to idolise him. Worship him. You would do anything for him. It was not my will to attack you, Shepard, but I was not able to break his control."

"Mother..." Liara began, but was stopped again.

"Listen. All of you. The key is Sovereign, his flagship. It is a dreadnought of incredible size, and its power is extraordinary."

"Yeah, we've seen it," Williams said darkly.

"Where did it come from?" Kaidan asked.

"I can not say," Benezia said, lowering her head. "The geth did not build it, and its technology is far more advanced than that of any known species. Perhaps it is Prothean... but I do not know. All I do know is that the longer you stay aboard, the more Saren's will seems correct. You sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you. I'd hoped to dissuade him from his course of action, to prevent him from finding the Conduit. Before I knew it, my mind was being slowly corrupted. It is subtle... insidious. I thought I was strong enough to resist. Instead, I became a slave, a willing tool, eager to serve." Her head came up again, a new determination in her eyes. "He sent me here to find the Mu Relay. It's position was lost thousands of years ago."

"A relay was _lost_?" Tali asked incredulously. "How does that even happen?"

"Four thousand years ago, a nearby sun went supernova," Benezia explained. "The shockwave sent the relay out of the system, but did not damage it. Its precise vector and speed are impossible to determine. As millennia passed, the nebula created by the nova enveloped the relay. It is difficult to find any cold object in interstellar space, especially one which is swathed in dust and radiation."

"But Binary Helix found it?" Garrus asked.

"No. The rachni found it. Two-thousand years ago, the rachni inhabited that region of space. The rachni can share memories across generations, with queens inheriting the knowledge of their mothers. I... took the knowledge of the relay from the queen's mind," she admitted, looking sicked by her actions. "I was not gentle."

"Mother, what does Saren want with the Mu Relay?" Liara asked. Everything she had heard sounded... almost incredible. Genetic memory? Relays getting lost? Mind-control and indoctrination?

"He believes it will lead him to the Conduit," her mother said. "I would tell you more if I could, but Saren did not share his counsel with me. I was merely a servant to his cause. I can't make up for the terrible things I have done, under Saren's control. And I can't ask you for forgiveness. But perhaps I can help you to stop Saren." She reached into her pocket, which caused the rest of the team to train their weapons on her once more, but she simply produced an OSD. "Here. The location of the Mu Relay. I have already transmitted the co-ordinates to Saren. He won't go there right away. There is something else he needs first, something on Feros. But after what you have done here today... you have delivered him a harsh blow. He will pull his forces back, re-evaluate his position. Only when he feels strong and secure will he resume his search."

Liara stepped forward when Benezia beckoned, taking the OSD in her shaking hand. She quickly put it into her pocket before she could damage it.

"You have to stop- me," her mother said. She lifted both hands to her head, pressing them against her temples. "I... I can't. His teeth are at my ear. Fingers on my spine. You should... you-"

"Mother!" Liara pleaded. She took a step forward but was stopped by a hand on her arm. Turning she found Shepard holding on to her. "Please don't leave, mother!" she called. "Fight him!" Seeing her mother in agony was almost too much to bear.

"You've always made me proud, Liara," Benezia said. And then her control was gone, just like that. One moment she was the warm and caring woman of Liara's childhood, and the next she was an emotionless tool of Saren. "Die," she said, a biotic field springing up around her.

From the other side of the room shots rang out, and another group of asari commandos began firing at the team. They dispersed, kept busy by the commandos, whilst Liara prepared to defend against her own mother once more.

This time she did not hold back. She knew that her mother still lived inside the body that tried to kill her, but she knew that she could do very little to call her mother forth once more. What now attacked was a shell, little more than a mindless husk, stripped of feeling and forced to do Saren's bidding. Saren would be the one to pay for this. She would see to it herself.

Benezia could not hold out long against the combined attacks of Liara and Shepard's team. Her strength weakened, her biotic power failing her as the blood leaked out of her injured shoulder, and she slumped backwards against the rachni tank, the light in her eyes growing dim. Not caring about the commandos still fighting, Liara rushed forwards, to crouch by her mother's side, and Shepard was only a step behind her.

"I... I cannot go on. You will have to stop him, Shepard," Benezia said. Liara pulled the older woman onto her lap, laying a hand on her cheek. She could not stop the tears that flowed from her eyes, dripping down onto her mother's face, even if she had wanted to.

"Hold on," Shepard said, willing to save even her enemy. "We've got medi-gel, maybe we can-"

"No!" Benezia's word was loud, and firm. It also coincided with the last shot fired, before the room fell silent. Liara was aware of the team approaching, watching, judging, but she didn't care. Let them watch, and judge. She had nothing to hide. Her tears did not shame her. They did not make her weak. "He is still in my mind," Benezia continued. "I am not entirely myself. I never will be again."

"Mother," Liara began, the word coming out as a sob as more tears came.

Benezia looked up, meeting her eyes. In their blue depths was peace. "Good night, Little Wing," she said. "I will see you again with the dawn." Then the eyes closed, and she let out a sigh. Death took her last breath. Unable to hold back the flood of tears, Liara buried her face against her mother's neck, crying for the past, for the mother she had lost long ago.

o - o - o - o - o

Ellie looked down at mother and daughter. Liara's sobs were heart-wrenching to hear, and as much as she wanted to give the woman time to be with her mother's body, to mourn in whatever way asari mourned, there was still a mission to complete. Before she left this place, she had to make sure the rachni would never hurt anybody ever again.

She stepped up to the tank, looking at the queen inside. Some sort of light-emitting cells made certain parts of its body glow blue, providing its own light-source. It looked like the large rachni which had attacked her team, only much larger, and much more dangerous.

"Shepard!" Wrex said, alarm in his voice.

She spun around, and saw one of the mortally wounded asari commandos approaching the tank. Her movements were stiff, disjointed, her jaw slack and her eyes wide and unblinking. She had no weapon, and made no attack, but when she reached the rachni tank, she turned around to face the team. She opened her mouth, words came out, but they were not natural. No asari could ever have reproduced those sounds, or the tone.

"This one speaks as our voice," the asari said. Her head jerked as she spoke. The words were as disjointed as her movements, as if she had only just learnt how to speak. "We cannot sing in these low spaces. Your musics are colourless."

"What the hell?" Kaidan asked. His gun was pointed at the commando, but there was confusion on his face.

Ellie glanced past the asari, at the rachni in the tank. The queen had turned, facing the same direction as the asari. If mind-control was another rachni quality, she had severely underestimated them as an enemy. But so far, it was not offering aggression. The fact that they could communicate at all showed that they were not the mindless animals many people considered them.

"What music?" she asked.

"Your way of communicating is strange. Flat," the queen said through the asari. "It does not colour the air. When we speak, one moves all. We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We are rachni."

"How are you controlling the asari?" she asked, walking around the commando, examining her from all angles. She had several severe gunshot wounds.

"Our kind sing through touchings of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is weak to urging. She has colours we have no names for. But she is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful. The children we birthed were stolen from us before they learnt to sing. They are lost to us." There was sadness and regret in the asari's voice. "End their suffering," she pleaded. "They cannot be saved. They will only cause harm, as they are."

"You don't seem to be hostile," she pointed out, "but your children are. Why are they killing people?"

"These needle-men." By that, Ellie took to mean scientists. The cause of all of life's problems, she sometimes thought. "They stole our eggs from us. They sought to turn our children into beasts of war. Claws with no songs of their own. Our elders are comfortable with silence. Children know only fear, if no-one sings to them. Fear has shattered their minds. Their deaths are lamentable, but necessary. Do what you must."

"Very well," she agreed. The neutron purge would destroy them, and send any traces of them deep into the glacier.

"Before you deal with our children," the asari-queen said, "we stand before you. What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?"

"If you go free," Ellie said, on a purely hypothetical basis, "would you attack other races again?"

"No!" the asari-queen insisted. "We- I... do not know what happened during the war. We heard only discordance. Songs the colour of oily shadows. We would seek a hidden place, to teach our children harmony. If they understand, perhaps we would return."

"You were alive, during the war?"

"We were only an egg, hearing mother cry in our dreams. A tone from space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with its own sour, yellow note. Then we awoke in this place. The last echo of those who came out from the Singing Planet. The sky is silent."

"Commander," Kaidan said, "if the rachni truly _are_ an intelligent, sentient race, as they appear to be, then Binary Helix have been experimenting on a sapient life-form. Not only that, but taking her children from her, and experimenting on them too. If they were human, or asari, or turian, it would never be allowed. The public outcry would be overwhelming."

"But they're not human, or asari, or turian," Wrex pointed out. "They're rachni, and they almost overran the galaxy once before. Do you really want another rachni war? There aren't as many krogan around this time to protect you softer species."

"Maybe we should alert the Council to this," Garrus said. "They might have a better idea of what to do. After all, this decision affects the entire galaxy."

"If what the queen says is true," Tali reasoned, "then what happened during the war was not their fault. If they were being controlled by something, like Benezia was, perhaps they simply couldn't help but obey."

"I believe the Council went too far," Liara said. She was still clutching her mother's body, like a child who refuses to believe their parent is gone. "They allowed the krogan to wipe the rachni out. That was a mistake, which you have the chance to correct, Commander."

"There's a _reason_ their kind were hunted to extinction," Ash replied. "It's better to be safe than let a dangerous race loose."

"All races are dangerous, Williams," Ellie told her. She looked at the creature in the tank. Grotesque as it was, she believed its claims that it was helpless to stop its children, and that the rachni had been 'soured' and forced to fight the other races during the rachni war. This was a situation her special training could never have prepared her for. How did you assess the body-language of an alien insectoid race that communicated telepathically through song? It was definitely a question for Dr Kay.

"What was done here, to you and your children, was a crime," she said aloud. "Knowingly or not, the scientists willingly performed brutal experiments on sentient beings. Some of them have paid the price for that. As a gesture of good-will, I'm willing to let you go. I don't have time to consult with the Council, and I'm not willing to end an entire species because of mistakes made in the past. You can go free."

"You will give us the chance to compose anew?" the asari-queen asked, sounding surprised. "We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children."

"You're making a mistake, Shepard," Wrex said angrily. "And the krogan will be the ones to clean up the mess, just like last time."

She didn't reply. She had no idea if she was making the right choice, but these were the choices the Council had sent her to make. Difficult choices, that could not be made by anybody else. Hoping she was doing the right thing, she activated the nearby computer console, accessed the tank's monitoring system, and gave the command to open the tank.

A hatch opened on the far side of the tank, and it was lifted up to a holding platform. As the queen stepped out, her hold over the asari failed, and the blue woman sank to the floor. The queen entered a corridor, away from the maintenance area, disappearing from sight. _Today_, Ellie thought, _I changed the galaxy. I just hope I changed it for the better._

o - o - o - o - o

It was a quiet and introspective group who made their way to the hot lab. At Ellie's request, Kaidan was keeping Dr T'Soni company, making sure she didn't fall behind. It hadn't been easy to prise her away from her mother, and even now her cheeks were damp with tears. Wrex and Ash had been the only proponents of killing the rachni queen, whilst Kaidan and Garrus had been on the fence, preferring to defer the decision to the Council. But when it came right down to it, the choice had been Ellie's, and hers alone. She was the one who had to accept responsibility for it, and for the consequences of her actions. And she still wasn't willing to kill a sentient creature without good reason. Batarians notwithstanding, of course.

The elevator door opened, allowing them out into the hot lab. But the room was not empty, as Ellie had expected. In the middle of the room was a man, a human, sitting on a chair and covered with blood. She hurried to his side, trying to see where the worst of the blood was coming from.

"Are you here to secure the situation?" he asked. His words were tinged by a Russian accent.

She ignored his question for the moment, searching his wounds. "How are you holding up?"

"Listen to me!" He grabbed the front of her armour, which immediately resulted in Kaidan pulling the man's hand away from her. "If we do not contain our mistake, they will drop bombs from the battlestations. Do you understand?"

"Mistake?" she asked, feeling a chill pass over her skin. "You mean you let these things out?"

"I was only following the orders!"

"Whose orders?"

"I cannot say. But we have to hurry, if we wish to fix this. The neutron purge must be activated."

"Alright," she said. "We'll activate the purge. _Then_ you're going to give me all the answers I need, about what's been going on here, and who ordered you to set the rachni free. I'm placing you under arrest. Congratulations, you're my first."

"It will not matter if we can't activate purge," the man said. "I have access key, and access code on OSD. First you insert key, then I give Mira code. This will-"

His sentence was cut off as something was thrust through his chest, spattering the floor and Ellie herself in blood. She jumped back in shock, landing in a very undignified way on her ass, and shuffled back further, pushing herself to her feet. Her team were faster to react; they fired at a rachni soldier which had come up out a ventilation shaft directly behind the BH employee and impaled him with its spear-like claw.

"Are you okay?" Kaidan asked as she tried to wipe the blood spatters from her armour.

"Yeah. Fine," she said. Her heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest, and adrenaline was pumping through her body, but she was alive, and unhurt. Which was more than she could say for the man on the chair, and the rachni that had killed him. "Search him for the key and the OSD."

Clearly not thrilled about looking through a dead man's pockets, Kaidan nevertheless acted without complaint, digging out both essentials and returning them to Ellie. She took them from him with a grateful smile, and gestured at the next room.

"Must be where Mira's console is located," she said. "Let's get this over with."

Once they were all inside the room, Ellie activated Mira's console. "Greetings, Commander Shepard," the VI said. "How may I help you?"

"I want to activate the neutron purge. Sooner, rather than later."

"In order to activate the neutron purge, you must enter the key in the switch on the wall, which is located just to my left. Ellie put the key into the hole, and turned it. "I also require an access verification code, to start the count-down procedure."

She slipped the OSD into her omni-tool, and read out the code from the display. "875-020-079. Code Omega, local execution."

"Verified. Code Omega execution in one hundred and twenty seconds."

"What?" Ash demanded. "Two minutes?"

"Relax, chief, that's plenty of time to get down to the trams," Kaidan said calmly.

"Come on," Ellie said, "let's get out of here."

She led her team out of the computer room, and back into the main room. When they got there, however, they found it less empty than they had left it. A whole host of rachni were waiting, some of them feeding on the body of the dead man. She immediately drew her pistol and opened fire, and the rest of the group followed suit. Despite the intelligence their mother had displayed, these rachni showed none. They rushed forward, trying to kill without co-ordination, and were cut down by gunfire.

"They just don't learn, do they?" Wrex asked, stepping in to the room once the rachni had all been put down.

Ellie glanced down, at her scanner, and felt the blood drain from her face as dots began to appear on her targetting system. "Oh my god," she said.

Liara, peering over her shoulder, gasped. "Are those..."

"Rachni. Hundreds of them."

"Goddess, they're all around us."

"Time to get out of here!" she ordered. "Everybody, make a run for the trams. Don't stop for anything!"

They piled into the elevator, and she hit the button for the floor above. As it ascended, she mentally hurried it on, aware that if the rachni came in force, she and her team might never make it back to Central Station. They, along with the rachni, would sink into the glacier, lost forever.

The elevator door opened and they all sprinted towards the door to the platform.

"Did it occur to you," Kaidan asked as they ran, "that if Ventralis still has it in for you, he might have sabotaged the tram system after using it?"

"I hope he's a better man than that," she replied.

When the reached the platform, relief flooded her body at the sight of the waiting tram. Inside, a lone figure was standing at the controls, and as soon as the last of her team were aboard, he activated the vehicle, returning it to Central Station.

"Figured you could use a bit of help, Commander," Ventralis said.

"Thanks," she said, taking a seat as she gulped in fresh air. Around the tram, her friends were doing likewise, sitting and resting their weary bodies. It had been a trying time for all of them, especially Liara. Glancing at the blue woman, Ellie saw her sitting alone, staring out of the window at the snow-covered peaks. Now was not the time for conversation. It was too soon.

"How many of your men and the scientists made it back to Central, Captain?" she asked Ventralis.

"All of them, thanks to you. As soon as we get back, I'll lift the lock-down on Peak 15, tell Port Hanshan to get some rescue vehicles sent up ASAP. In the mean time, my men are having some well-deserved rest. It's a bit cold over there, but the heating's been slowly kicking in over the past few hours, so it's not too bad."

She nodded, and let the chair take her full weight. It had been a long day. All that was left to do now was return to Central Station, drive three Makos down a slippery path of ice to Port Hanshan, see what exciting new missions Hackett had in store, and advise the leaders of galactic society that she'd freed a species that had once threatened to obliterate all sentient life-forms in the galaxy.

Piece of cake.


	27. Mentor

Deus Ex Machina

_27. Mentor_

The fact that Eden Prime was bathed in sunlight no longer worried Eloise, neither did the hazy glow which enveloped everything around her. She didn't question the fact that she was in civvies again, or that, as she walked through a field that was almost _too_ green, she saw no gas-bags and heard no birds. It was a quirk of this place, she realised now. For some reason, animals did not exist here. And neither, apparently, did military uniforms.

She found Nihlus where she knew he would be; at the dig site. For a moment she merely watched him, observing as he prowled around the beacon like a cat looking for the catflap. And though he didn't look directly at her, her presence did not go unnoticed.

"I thought I'd be seeing you again soon," he called up to her.

She climbed down the stairs from the ledge, standing beside him as she looked up at the beacon. "Why do you spend so much time here? I always seem to find you here, or leave you here. What is it about this place that draws you to it?"

"The beacon, of course," he said, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. "It is a mystery. One that I believe must be solved if we are to stop Saren from bringing back the Reapers."

"I think you're putting too much effort into thinking about the beacon," she told him. "It's done its job. It gave me the information stored inside it. It warned me about the Reapers."

"Did it?" He turned his predatory green stare to her face. "If you hadn't heard that recording of the quarian's, you would not have known about the Reapers. All you saw in the vision this beacon gave you was an instance of the Protheans being wiped out by synthetics. _It_ didn't warn you about the Reapers; Saren did. Through a salvaged geth memory core. If it wasn't for that recording, you would still be stumbling around in the dark. What's the use in sending only an image of synthetics wiping out organics? It does not give you any context. Perhaps the Reapers are to the Protheans as the geth are to the quarians. Perhaps the Protheans initiated the war by trying to wipe out the Reapers, and this was a warning to tell other races not to do the same, not to strike first against synthetics. Or maybe it's a warning that this will happen to _all_ organics, if they do _not_ strike first at synthetics."

"So... you think the Prothean vision I had is... incomplete?"

"No. I think _you_ are incomplete. That the beacon gave you all you needed, but that physiologically speaking, you're not advanced enough to understand it. After all, why would Saren need to view a warning about the Reapers, if he's trying to bring them back? There must me something else, something inside the vision, that made him come here."

She sighed. "The best scientific minds are studying the remains of this thing on the Citadel."

"They're studying something broken. I'm studying something whole."

"Too bad you're not a scientist," she pointed out.

"I do not need to be a scientist to see, and feel." He turned away from the beacon, to look out into the distance. A thin strand of sparkling blue sea was just about visible on the horizon. "You freed the rachni queen."

"You know about that?" she asked.

"Yes."

"How?"

"I have a theory."

"Another? You're getting good at coming up with those."

"We know that the beacon can give visions. What if it is not just data, but _memory_?"

"Go on," she said cautiously.

"If that is the case, there must have been a way for Protheans to upload their memories into the beacon. Maybe via computer, or perhaps the beacon is capable of directly reading the memories of those around it. I was on Eden Prime. I didn't get _ver_y close to the beacon, but I wasn't very _far_ from it, either. Perhaps it was able to read my memories, and store them, along with those uploaded by the Protheans. Then, when the beacon activated, my memories, along with those of the Protheans, were downloaded into you. That would explain how I can be here, talking to you, and seemingly remembering things about my own life that you couldn't possibly know."

"My people have a saying," she said. "Grasping at straws. And I think that's what you're doing here."

"The way I see it, there are only two possibilities, Shepard," he said patiently. "Either your mind is generating this place, and everything within it, because of something the Prothean beacon did to you. Something that you can only access on a subliminal level, when your mind is asleep. Or, this place exists externally, outside of you, and you are somehow coming and going from it in your sleep. Which, in your opinion, is more likely?"

"If this is all in my mind, how can I do this?" she asked, reaching up to tap his armour with her fingertips. "You feel as real to me as my ship does when I'm awake."

"Psychosomosis?" he suggested. "But if this _isn't_ all in your mind, then what is it? Where is it? Why am I here? What are the children doing here? How do you get here? And why is this beacon whole and intact, when it reality, it is destroyed?"

"I don't know!" she said, her frustration growing. "But one thing I'm _not_ going to do, is postulate about it any longer, otherwise I risk obsessing over it, and that just isn't healthy. Regardless of what it is, we're here. And whatever reason exists for that, will either make itself known, or not. Humans have another saying: Don't look a gift-horse in the mouth. That means don't take things for granted. This is my chance to talk to you, to learn from you about being a Spectre, so I'm not going to waste it with pointless speculation."

"Very well, Shepard," he replied, inclining his head towards her. "I'll continue to dwell on the matter in my own time, and not mention it again while you're here. So. What did you come to see me for?"

"Well, I didn't come here on purpose," she admitted. "I just went to sleep and woke up here. But now that I _am_ here, I'd like to know what you think about the rachni. In my place, figment-of-my-imagination-Nihlus, would you have done the same thing?"

"I believe I would have. The rachni queen displayed intelligence equivalent to any other sentient species. If she keeps her word, and keeps her children separate from the rest of the galaxy, teaching them about forgiveness rather than hate, then perhaps releasing her will be for the best. The species may be doomed anyway, even despite your leniency."

"Why?"

"Genetic stagnation. A single queen? She will only be able to produce children of her own genetic coding. Even if she creates more queens, there will not be enough genetic diversity within the species to drive evolution." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Unless they're able to randomise genetic inheritance. But no sapient species is able to do that. I see no reason why the rachni should be able to do it. Either way, such theorising is best left to doctors and geneticists, not to Spectres."

"You seem to be well versed on the subject of genetics," she said suspiciously.

"I read a paper, once. Anyway, I get the feeling you won't have to worry about the rachni for a while. Even if they _are_ hostile, more species will be prepared for them this time around. I can only imagine what the Council had to say about it, though."

"They weren't pleased," she admitted. She had contacted them as soon as Normandy was back in space, and they had been incredibly critical of her decision to release the rachni queen without consulting them first. "Valern accused me of being rash. And when that comes from a salarian, you know you're in for trouble. Were they always as critical with you, as they are with me?"

"No," he replied straight away. "They are harsher with you because you are human. Your Ambassador thinks he has won a battle, by getting you inducted into the Spectres. In fact, the battle is still being fought. The Councillors are well aware that many people fear and mistrust humanity. They believe that if they can bring you around to their way of thinking, and put you firmly under their thumb, they will be showing the rest of the galaxy that they can tame an Alliance officer, and by extension, can tame humanity in general." He focused his green eyes on her face, impressing on her the importance of his words. "You must not let them leash you, if you are to do your job well. You will have to fight them every step of the way, for the ability to make your own decisions, and have the freedom to do so. If you falter, for even a moment, if your conviction wavers, then before you know it they will have slipped their collar around your neck, and you won't even realise it."

"You make it almost sound like they're the enemy," she quipped, even though she saw the truth and wisdom in his words. "Aren't I supposed to take orders from them?"

"Yes... and no," he explained. "When they inducted you, they gave you the authority to preserve galactic peace by any means necessary. If tomorrow you discover that one of them has been involved in something highly illegal... say, fraud, or slavery, or murder... is it not your duty to stop them from continuing? They are not your masters, Shepard. Peace is your master. It is what you fight for, what you strive for, and it should be your ultimate goal."

"I think I understand," she said, her brows furrowed into a frown. "But I need some time to get my head around it."

"Here is something else for you to consider," he said. "If tomorrow, the Council should decide that you're not being compliant enough, and they revoke your Spectre status, will you settle for that? Do you remember what they said at your induction? Spectres are not trained, they are chosen. I would go one step further than that. Spectres are not chosen, they are born. Can you let politicians dictate your birth-right? You act with their authority, but their authority is not a constraint. Spectres are guardians of peace. We act when we have to. We wait for the times we have to act. And always, we watch."

"But who watches the watchers?"

"I don't know. But I can tell you that, right now, I'm watching."

The focus in his eyes was almost frightening, and she was glad, not for the first time, that she wasn't his enemy. He had learnt everything he knew from Saren, even if he did not agree with a lot of what his own mentor had told him. Ellie knew that this was her best chance to beat Saren, to learn from the man who had known him well for years and worked with him on countless operations. But at the same time, she found Nihlus a little intimidating. Not physically, but emotionally. Sometimes, when he was looking at her with focused intensity, it felt like he knew what she was thinking. And she also suspected that he knew she was in awe of him a little.

"I met Lilihierax on Noveria," she said, hoping to shift the balance of power a little.

"I thought you would."

"He asked me out for a drink in your honour."

"I hope you didn't fall for that."

"Of course not," she lied. If it hadn't been for Garrus translating for her, she _would_ have fallen for it. "He said I reminded him of an asari."

Nihlus didn't even blink. "I bet he did. Lilihierax considers himself something of a lady's man. I once saw him try to chat up what he thought was a salarian dalatrass. The very male businessman was quite bemused, and only a little offended."

"He also told me that you didn't have an easy time of it, in the military," she said. "That you didn't get on well with the rest of your shipmates."

"I grew up in a small outpost of the Rocam colony. There were only a dozen other families in my village, most of them farmers, and very few people of my own age," he explained. He began walking towards the steps, and she followed him, keeping pace to listen to him talk. "As a result, I grew... comfortable with my own company. I spent most of my time exploring the wilds around my home, roaming from sun-up to sun-down. Sometimes my father and I would go hunting, camping out for days on end, but most of the time I was alone. My family were one of the few who weren't farmers. My father was a trader, and my mother a pilot. We owned a cargo ship, and when I was younger, they'd leave me in the care of neighbours once a month to take our outpost's crops to the city. As I grew older, they didn't need to leave me in the care of others, and I enjoyed the freedom I had."

"It must have been very lonely for you," she said, thinking of her own time in the orphanage. She had always been surrounded by children, but even then, she had been alone, making alliances when necessary, sticking up for the younger children when she was old enough to take care of herself and knew properly how to do a hip-throw.

"Loneliness is subjective," he said, finishing the climb to the top of the steps and setting out across the field towards the space port. "Those who have always known it, welcome it as a friend. Those who have never known it, fear it."

"How did your dad die? If you don't mind me asking, of course," she said.

He shook his head. "He was foolish. He was bartering with a new trading partner. The other man called my father foolish, told him his prices were extortionate, and insulted my mother. My father took offence, and told the man to apologise, or face him in a duel like a real man, instead of a coward who insults women. The man refused, and my father turned to leave the negotiations. That's when the man pulled a knife. We may seem like we have thick skin, but we cut and bleed just as easily as you softer-skinned species."

"It must have been awful to lose your father like that," she said, her voice echoing the sympathy in her eyes.

"It wasn't made easier by the fact that his murderer was an off-worlder," Nihlus explained. His eyes scanned the fields ahead, as if he was waiting for something to jump out and attack. "Because my father had never served in the military - very few people of my colony did, because of our remoteness and isolation - he didn't classify as a Hierarchy citizen under turian law. The murderer could not be extradited, and went unpunished. After that, my mother sent me off to join the military. She wanted me to learn how to fight and defend myself, so that I would not become a victim, as my father had. And she also wanted me to benefit from citizenship, even though I felt I owed nothing to the Hierarchy, or to Palaven."

"You know," she said thoughtfully, "when I thought of turians, I just assumed you were one people, united in everything. It didn't occur to me that your people have the same problems as humans do... separatists, isolationists, inequality of justice..."

"When it comes right down to it, we're not all that different," he agreed.

"There's something I've been wondering, lately," she mused. "Perhaps you can shed some light on it."

"I'll try."

"We humans have our share of criminals, for various different reasons. Poverty and greed drive people to theft and drug dealing. Anger, jealousy and mental instability drive people to murder. Social deprivation and inequality drive people to terrorism. I grew up in that bubble of crime, seeing it first-hand, recognising how and why criminals are formed. Humans have no sort of united goal, no one set of laws that governs us, no one religion to bind us together and unify us. When I was younger, I thought that crime was a symptom of humanity. I used to imagine that alien societies were better. Freer. Less restrictive. More equal."

"Were you deluding yourself?"

"Well, I watched a lot of Star Trek," she admitted, then shook her head at his confused expression. "It doesn't matter. Anyway, I made it off Earth, and found out that there are batarian criminals. Lots of them. And then, in my dealings with the Citadel races, I've come across turian criminals, and even an occasional asari. I can understand the batarians... from what I know, their government is strict, and encourages raiding of other worlds. They advocate privacy. But I thought that turians were more united than that. I thought you all followed the same honour system, the same code of conduct. And I thought that asari were too long-lived and wise to give in to petty crime, or base urges, such as killing. How can the turians who turn criminal justify what they're doing, under your code of honour? How can asari, knowing they are going to live for hundreds of years, make mistakes, knowing that they may one day regret them?"

"Because we are not machines," he said. "Laws and codes and systems are there to shape us and guide us, to give us a template, something to aspire to and grow towards. They can tell us how we _should_ behave, but they can't dictate how we _will_ behave. When it comes down to it, we're all individuals with our own thoughts and ideas, feelings and emotions, dreams and aspirations. Crime is low on Palaven because the Hierarchy is right there, looking over you, reminding you of what it thinks is right. But out in the colonies, you're cut off from that, sometimes hundreds of light-years away from the authorities. Life is harsh. You sometimes have to take short-cuts to protect yourself. You have to bend rules, and learn to be flexible. Many people think that a turian without honour isn't a turian at all. We have a word for such people - _tarkann_ - _honourless_. It's a grave insult. And I suspect that, for the asari, it's much the same situation. Even people who live for hundreds of years can make mistakes."

"I guess nothing's as black and white as it seems, is it? When you look closer, you always see shades of grey."

"Indeed. Show me a civilisation that is completely free from crime, in which everybody is equal and yet free to make their own choices, and I will show you a dream." He stepped down onto the platform of the port, and she jumped down beside him. An Alliance shuttle was waiting there already. Behind it, in the background, floated the second platform. Children were still at play, though she recognised none from her previous visit.

"I don't suppose you've any theories about them, have you?" she asked, gesturing to the kids with her thumb.

"No," he said. His mandibles flared slightly as he looked at them. "I deemed them less important than the beacon. They're here, but they don't seem to be a part of this place, and they're not affecting us."

"Okay," she said, and glanced to the shuttle. "Guess it's time for me to wake up."

"Yes," he agreed.

"Well... thanks for the advice. I'll think about everything you told me. Oh, before I forget, is there anything... any... messages... that you'd like passed on to your mother?"

"You'd have a hard time getting anything to her. She died several years ago."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Now, get going. I think you've wasted enough time here with me."

"I don't consider this a waste of my time," she assured him. "Not at all."

"Hmph. Well. You have things to do. And I have a beacon to contemplate."

"Alright, I get the message, I'm going."

The door of the shuttle opened as she approached, and she looked inside it. Blackness, again. Always blackness. With a brief look back at Nihlus, who seemed determined to stay and make sure she really left, she stepped inside it, back into wakefulness.


	28. Negotiations

Deus Ex Machina

_28. Negotiations_

Talking with a dead turian was not conducive to a good night's sleep, but since it was an improvement on dreaming about the mass Prothean extinction, Ellie did not mentally complain to herself as she opened her eyes and rolled out of bed.

"Time," she said.

"Zero six thirty hours," the ships computer replied.

"Time at Arcturus?"

"Ten thirty hours."

"Great," she sighed. Though she had told Pressly to tell Hackett she would contact him once she returned from Noveria, she had been far too tired after getting back from the mission, especially after her holographic meeting with the Council, to even consider reporting in to her superior officer. She was sure he would understand; although she had never met the Admiral, he seemed like a nice enough guy. At least, he hadn't yelled at her yet, which meant he was probably a bit nicer than Parsons, who had yelled at her on several occasions.

"Commander," came Joker's voice over the comm, "as much as I love sitting in orbit above Noveria, looking down at the icy whiteness, I think we'd all like to be leaving at some point for warmer climes. Do you have somewhere you wanna go? Preferably somewhere that we've not been threatened yet?"

"I'm just about to call HQ and get some orders," she replied. "I do have a question for you, though."

"For me?" He sounded surprised. "Well, shoot. Let's see if you hit something."

"How the hell do you sleep? Every time I pass cockpit controls, you're there. Every time I call down, you're there. In fact, how do you even manage to get time away to take a piss?"

"Ooh, pilot secrets? Not sure I should divulge those, commander. Tips of the trade, y'know. I'd be made really unwelcome at the next annual Alliance Pilots ballroom event. How am I going to find gorgeous lady-pilots to dance with if I'm being shunned?"

"I promise I won't tell," she smiled.

"Alright. Truthfully? I sleep with my eyes open and this chair is actually a commode."

"I'm sorry I asked."

"I have an even better question for you," he returned. "You know what we were talking about the other day at the Citadel?"

"This isn't going to be part of your 'Tali is a robot' theory, is it?"

"How does she eat? I mean, think about it. She can't open her suit, otherwise she might get a cough, or somebody might see her and realise she's actually a robot. Answer? _Robots don't need to eat!_

She rolled her eyes. "I think Dr Michel would have noticed if Tali was a robot."

"Yeah. Unless she's a robot too."

"Joker," she said seriously, "I'm saying this as your commanding officer, and as a friend. You have an unhealthy obsession with robots."

"More of a passing interest, really. Anyway, I'll get off the comm and let you call the brass. The sooner we're away from corporation central, the better."

When the line went dead, she went to her computer console and opened a line on the Alliance frequency, connecting to one of the Signal operators controlling the comm buoys.

"This is Shepard on the Normandy," she said, pulling the shirt of her uniform over her head.

"Hey Shepard," a man's voice replied jovially, "this is Max Friar, on buoy six. Who can I patch you through to today?"

"Admiral Hackett please, at Arcturus Station."

"Roger that, patching you through to the big H. Thanks for using comm buoy six, and enjoy your day."

Smiling, she shook her head. She'd heard that the Signal operators could get a bit... funny... with captains when they recognised a ship's caller ID. Then again, Signals _did_ tend to be their own special sort of funny to begin with.

"Commander Shepard?" Hackett said, and she very nearly saluted, despite being in the middle of pulling on her trousers.

"Admiral, I trust I've contacted you at a better time than our previous conversation?"

"Indeed you have. How did your mission on Noveria go?"

"I got the intel on Saren I was looking for," she reported, "but my suspect resisted arrest and was subsequently killed in the attempt to subdue her. I _did_ manage to save a group of BH employees, though I'm sure you'll be hearing whispers about that on the newsnet before long. I haven't had chance to write up my report yet sir, but I can forward you a copy when I do, if you like?"

"In your own time, Shepard. I know you've got a lot going on over there. And I'm afraid I have to add to your list of priorities."

"New orders, sir?" she asked, sitting on the edge of her bed and lacing up her dress boots.

"Yes. We're about to see exactly what fifty-thousand credits worth of non-standard genetic upgrading and intensive psychological training is worth these days. Time to put your super-powers to use, commander."

"Sir?" she asked, extremely puzzled by his words.

"Two days ago, Martin Burns, the chairman for the Alliance Parliamentary Subcommittee for Transhuman Studies, was on his way back from a conference to discuss the subject of reparations for L2 biotics, when his private vessel, the MSV Ontario, was boarded by hostile L2s. They've taken the chairman hostage, and demand that all L2s be given immediate reparations by the Alliance. As you might surmise, they've threatened to kill Burns unless we comply."

"You'd like me to negotiate his release?"

"Correct. You know the drill, commander. In theory, the Alliance does not officially negotiate with terrorists. In practicality, we don't have to honour any agreement you make with them. As a Spectre, however, you can operate outside of our jurisdiction. Do what needs to be done. None of them have given names, so I'm afraid you're flying blind on this one."

"Where are they now, sir?"

"Our last piece of intel points at the Farinata System, in the Hades Gamma cluster."

"We're only a couple of jumps away from Hades Gamma. We can be there shortly."

"Glad to hear it. And commander... Chairman Burns is an important and influential man. There's even talk of future presidency. I'd rather that he didn't die on our watch."

"Understood, sir," she said. "I'll do my best."

"Let me know how negotiations go. Hackett out."

"Joker?" she said, pressing the internal comm button.

"Yeah?"

"Farinata System. Hades Gamma cluster."

"Roger that, commander. ETA... three hours."

As soon as she was dressed, she headed out the door and onto the habitation deck, glancing around for Kaidan. When she couldn't find him, she surmised that he was probably still in one of the sleeper pods; sometimes he required extra sleep, after strenuous use of his biotic powers, otherwise his migraines returned with a vengeance. In lieu of Kaidan, she walked to the med bay, finally remembering something she'd been meaning to do for the past week.

Inside the med bay, Doctor Chakwas was bent over an electron microscope, one eye closed as she concentrated on whatever was on the specimen slide. Her short grey hair fell forward slightly, framing the microscope.

"Here already, Doctor?" Ellie asked, smiling at the woman's dedication. "You're almost as bad as Joker. I swear, the man doesn't sleep."

"He sleeps with his eyes open," Chakwas said seriously. Then she straightened up, and appraised Ellie openly. "And I sleep standing up. So. Looking at you, you appear to be healthy. All of your limbs are attached, and you haven't attempted to catch any mountains on your back recently. Is this a pleasure call?"

"'Fraid not," she said, hopping onto the closest bed and pulling her shirt over her head, stripping down to the supportive vest she wore beneath. "My implant needs changing."

The doctor looked surprised. "What, it's been ten years? You must have been young, when you had it put in."

"Eighteen. That's hardly what I'd call 'young'."

"You're _still_ what I call 'young', commander," Chakwas said wryly. She activated her omni-tool and walked towards the bed, scanning it over Ellie's left upper arm. "You know, I can remember a time when there _were_ no contraceptive implants."

Ellie gave a snort of disbelief.

"Well, not implants like these," Chakwas amended. "The previous gen were much larger, and you could feel them under the skin. They were also less reliable, didn't last as long, and had... unpleasant... side effects. Ah, there it is." She reached for a small medical tool and held it over Ellie's arm, still scanning the area with her O-T. "Just keep still for one second... and there we go."

Ellie felt a small, sharp stinging pain in her arm as the tiny microchip was magnetically removed from beneath her skin. A small trickle of blood started to run down her arm, but it wasn't enough to warrant using medi-gel for.

"Are you sure you want me to replace it, commander?" Chakwas asked casually. "Your normal reproductive system should kick in after about four weeks without it."

"No thank you," she told Chakwas hurriedly. "Absolutely no intention of _ever_ having children, and I'm one of those people who suffers from really bad PMT. Trust me, you _don't_ want to see me in a hormonal mood."

"As you wish. I'll put a new chip in, just above where your old one was. Keep still, this will sting."

There was another brief sting as a new chip was inserted beneath her skin, and then it was done. Good for another ten years.

"Thanks, doc," she said, pulling her shirt on over her vest. "By the way, how's your research going?"

"What research?"

"You know... building bridges?"

"Oh, that. It's only been a couple of weeks since we last spoke about it, commander," Chakwas smiled. "Ask me again in a couple of _years_, and I might have some progress for you."

"I think I will," she grinned. It would be interesting to see what the Doctor came up with, two years from now. "Hey, doctor, have you ever met Admiral Hackett?"

"Yes, a few times. Why do you ask?"

"Well, the Normandy is technically part of the Fifth Fleet now, even if I _am_ allowed to take her gallivanting around the galaxy while I play at Spectre. I was just wondering what my new CO is like. He seems less strict than my last one, Parsons."

"Ahh yes, Admiral Parsons," Chakwas said, a sad look flickering across her eyes. "I heard about what happened to him. Such a shame. You know, several years ago I asked for a report to be commissioned about what I call Lifer's Syndrome. Nobody ever did one, of course. I wish they had. I never met Admiral Parsons myself, but I've heard a lot of good things about him. Almost as many as I've heard about Admiral Hackett. As for what Steven is like... well, he's an exceptionally clever man, described as one of the finest tactical minds of recent generations. He's got almost as many scars as Wrex, but the loveliest blue eyes," Chakwas smiled.

"Steven?" she asked, a single eyebrow quirking up.

"Oh, we originally met whilst on a cruise ship. Shore leave. Quite a coincidence we bumped into each other, really. There weren't all that many humans on the cruise, so naturally we got to talking. Of course, that was a good few years ago. He probably doesn't even remember me now."

"Uh-huh."

"You may be my commanding officer," Chakwas warned, shaking a finger at Ellie, "but I don't have to take that tone from somebody who's young enough to be my daughter."

"Alright, doctor," she grinned. "I didn't mean to imply anything. I'll leave you in peace."

"_Very_ much appreciated, commander."

Still grinning, she walked out of the med bay, and straight into just over six-foot of combat-armoured turian, which was almost enough to send her bouncing back into the bay.

"Sorry, commander," Garrus said, looking slightly bemused by the head-on collision. "I wasn't expecting to literally run into you."

"If you're after Doctor Chakwas, be warned; she's not in a good mood," she told him.

"I heard that," Chakwas called from further inside the room.

"Actually, I was looking for you."

"Oh, sure, let's leave the good Doctor in peace and you can tell me what's on your mind." She led him out of the room and let the door close behind her. She spotted Kaidan sitting in the mess, eating a high-calorie breakfast. For a relief, he didn't seem to be suffering any migraines after his previous day of extended biotic use. "What's up?" she asked, turning her attention back to Garrus.

"Is there somewhere we can talk in private?" he asked, looking rather furtive.

Curious about what had brought about this odd new behaviour in him, she led him back into her cabin, hoping that Kaidan stayed put for long enough for her to speak to him afterwards.

"This okay for you?" she asked, once they were alone

"Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things."

"I'm listening," she said. She offered him a seat, but he shook his head, so she remained standing too.

"I heard that you're looking for a turian profiteer. That Wrex wants to get his family armour back from the man."

"How on _Earth_ did you hear about that?" she asked, once more amazed by his ability to root out little-known information.

"I listen. Anyway, I thought I'd give you this." He reached into a pouch on the belt of his armour and brought out an OSD, handing it over to her. "Last known location of Tonn Actus, as well as intel on what his base security's like. Just don't tell Wrex that I gave it to you. I'll never hear the end of it."

"He won't hear it from me," she told him truthfully, placing the OSD onto her desk. "But I have to ask. Why?"

"I don't like criminals, Shepard." The familiar fire returned to his yellow eyes, as it did whenever he thought about crime and criminals. The man practically _lived_ for justice. No wonder his father had been so disappointed that he'd quit C-Sec. "And, I have to admit... _some_ turians did some pretty unpleasant things to the krogan. You know, _after_ they'd infected them with the genophage. As if it wasn't enough to sterilise the whole population, stealing their artifacts was just rubbing salt in the wounds."

"A turian feeling empathy for a krogan?" she smiled. "That's gotta be a first."

"Yeah, maybe," he said dismissively. "Anyway, there's something else, too. I... would like you to do something for me, Shepard. If it's not too much trouble."

"You know," she said, folding her arms across her chest and giving him her best skeptical stare, "the last guy who took me into private quarters and asked me to do something for him wouldn't take no for an answer, and I had to introduce my boot to his family jewels."

"I... have no idea what you just said," he admitted. "But this relates to an old case of mine. Nothing to do with jewelry."

"Tell me about the case," she sighed. Euphemisms, it seemed, were just wasted on aliens.

"A few years back I was assigned to investigate black-market trading on the Citadel, and I discovered a rise in the sale of body parts."

"This is one of those conversations I'm going to wish we'd had _after_ breakfast, isn't it?"

"Sorry," he said, looking barely contrite at all. "As I was saying, we didn't know if it was a lab selling illegal parts, or some psychopath hacking people up for profit. I managed to get my hands on a turian liver - not literally, of course - and forensics found the name of its owner. The weird thing was, he was still alive and walking around as if nothing had happened. I don't know how it is for humans, but turians can't survive without a liver, so you can imagine we were a bit puzzled."

"Garrus Vakarian and the mystery of the second liver. Sounds like a good title for a crime vid." He stared at her blankly. "Sorry. Inappropriate humour is how I deal with things I can't cope with. I've seen too many people ripped apart to be comfortable with dismemberment."

"And I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. I'll try to keep the gore to a minimum."

"Then please continue."

"I ran a history on the turian and discovered he'd worked recently for a salarian geneticist called Doctor Saleon, who worked on the Citadel. I... inspected his lab-"

"Raided it, you mean?"

"No, raids are much more fun. You get to take heavy weaponry. This was just a casual inspection. But I couldn't find anything. No organs, no machines for growing them. No salarian hearts, no turian livers, not even one krogan testicle."

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I know. Gore. Sorry," he apologised again. "Anyway, without a better idea, I brought in some of his ex-employees for a chat-"

"Interrogation?"

"Somewhere between the two. I didn't use any violence at all, but one of the guys started bleeding. When I called in the C-Sec medics, they found incisions all over his body. He'd been operated on, and recently. Turns out that Saleon was using his employees - poor, underprivileged folks who were desperate for creds - as living test tubes, growing the organs inside them and then slicing them out when they were ready for harvesting. Only, he wasn't too particular about leaving the organs in if they weren't growing properly, causing a lot of complications for his employees."

"Lovely."

"We made a move to arrest him, but we were too late. He destroyed his lab, grabbed some of his employees, and ran for his ship. He managed to get away before flight could stop him, and as he left the Citadel, I asked the defence forces to shoot him down."

"You asked them to shoot a ship full of hostages?"

"Those men and women he took were as good as dead already," he said angrily. "Saleon was just going to use them again and again, only without fear of reprisal, now that he was off the Citadel. Before, he'd been more careful, but if he left, he'd have no incentive to hide his crimes."

"Garrus, opening fire on a hostage ship is a measure of _last_ resort, when there is absolutely, positively no chance of those hostages ever being recovered," she said. "Otherwise, you're treating them as disposable, and with even less respect than the criminals who take advantage of them."

"Maybe," he said, letting the anger out of his voice. "It didn't matter. In the end, the defence forces wouldn't shoot. They said the ship was too close to the Citadel... might have caused damage if it exploded. Saleon made the FTL jump and got away."

"I'm sorry you didn't get the ending you were looking for," she told him. "But what does this have to do with me?"

"I've discovered that Dr Saleon has changed his name to Dr Heart, and has bought himself a new ship, which I have... acquired the transponder codes for. I'd like to go and pay him a visit. Shut him down for good this time."

"This isn't a vendetta, is it?"

"No. It's about closing down a case that I should have closed down years ago. If I'd been quicker, gone to arrest him sooner... he got away because I wasn't fast enough."

"Alright," she said. "As long as this is about justice, and saving lives, we'll look into it. But this is an Alliance ship, and it's not to be used for personal vendettas."

"Understood," he said. He took another OSD from his pouch and gave it to her. "And thank you, Shepard. This is one of those things that tends to keep me awake at night. If I can get it off my mind, make sure Dr Saleon can't hurt anybody else, I might be able to sleep a little easier."

"I have a mission to do for the Alliance, and then I think I should tell Wrex the good news about Tonn Actus. After that, we'll check out this doctor of yours."

"Whenever you're ready, Shepard," he said.

When he left, she sat at her desk and looked at both OSDs. They meant time out from her hunt for Saren, but if what Benezia had said was true, then she could afford a short break. With Saren reeling from Benezia's death, and the loss of his rachni army, he'd want to consolidate his position before chancing another encounter with her. Unfortunately, that meant she'd be probably be facing more geth forces from now on, but it couldn't be helped.

Recalling her desire to speak with Kaidan, she left her bedroom for the second time that morning and was pleased to see her friend still eating. She took the seat next to him, gesturing for the cook to bring her a plate of food, and glanced at what was left of Kaidan's breakfast.

"Making up for yesterday?" she smiled.

"You know how hungry I get after a big day," he grinned back, his brown eyes shining with humour. "Nobody ever gains weight on the biotic diet."

The cook deposited a plateful of food in front of Ellie, and she thanked him, picking up her own knife and fork and tucking in to the rehydrated meal.

"How are you holding up, Ellie?" he asked, concern etched across his face. "I mean really."

"Some days are better than others," she said, giving him a tight-lipped smile. "Sometimes I dread getting in to bed, because I know what's waiting for me, and no amount of pre-bed meditation can help me avoid the things that I see in my dreams." She shivered, recalling the horrors of them. "So much death, Kaidan. If Saren really _is_ trying to bring the Reapers back... stopping him is our only option. I've seen what they can do. Not in coherent images, just fragmented nightmares, but that's bad enough. It makes Akuze look like a pleasant stroll in the park."

"And aside from the whole death and destruction and fate of the galaxy thing... how are you doing?"

"Still trying to figure out what it means to be a commander. And how to captain a ship. And be a Spectre. Also I'm thinking of learning to play the flute."

"Hmm," he said thoughtfully, "mis-placed humour. So, which of those three things is bothering you the most?"

"The flute," she smiled. "No idea where I'll find a teacher."

He shook his head. He was already more than familiar with her casual way of dismissing queries about her state of mind. It wasn't that she wasn't _capable_ of talking about her feelings, her hopes and her fears, but once she started, it tended to open the flood-gate, and she wasn't ready for that yet. She was coping nicely, by not letting things bother her, or thinking too much about the enormity of her task. And as much as she wanted to use Kaidan as her emotional crutch, she knew that it wasn't fair to him. He had his own share of problems to deal with.

"Have you spoken with Dr T'Soni yet, about what happened on Noveria?" he asked.

She shook her head, swallowing a mouthful of bacon. "I think it's too soon. I want to give her some time to come to terms with what happened, before I start trying to talk to her about it. Sometimes it can take a while for loss to sink in."

"Sounds sensible," he nodded. He didn't have a clue about how to counsel somebody through loss, but he trusted that she knew what she was doing. "Dr T'Soni seems... uh... nice," he offered.

She immediately picked up on the change in his body-language. It became defensive, his tone unsure, his voice rising by a pitch. Something was making him uncomfortable.

"Yeah, Liara's nice," she replied. "A bit naïve, but that's not a bad thing. She's honest. It's good to have her around."

"Please don't do that critical assessment thing on me, Ellie," he said.

She held up her hands in defence of herself. "Kaid, it doesn't take a psychologist to read what you're putting out right now. Honestly, it's fine. If you're interested in Liara, I have no objections. Well, I do think she's a bit old for you... or maybe you're a bit old for her... but you could do much, much worse. Like that girl you met last year? What was her name? Katie? I didn't like her... she had an irritating laugh."

"I'm not interested in Dr T'Soni," he sighed, and she knew he was telling the truth. She could read it in his body language, as easily as reading a PDA in large-type font. "C'mon, El, you know me better than that. Liara's nice, but she's really... bookish. Not really my type."

"Then why all the uncomfortable awkwardness?"

"Just... trying to get a feel for your thoughts on her." His tone and facial expression told her he was telling the truth, but not the whole truth. Concealing something.

"You haven't asked for my thoughts on Tali, or Garrus, or Wrex," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but they're different."

"Because..."

"Because... well, I guess I should tell you. You're going to find out one way or another, so better it comes from me. Liara... likes you."

"Kaidan, I received a vision from a Prothean beacon," she said. "Given half a chance, Liara would probably put me on a table and dissect me if she thought it would help her understand the Protheans a little better. I suppose in her eyes, I'm the next best thing to having a living Prothean wandering around. She knows that will never happen, so she's focusing all of her attention of me, and the knowledge put in my head by the beacon."

"I thought the beacon only put _images_ in your head," he pointed out.

"There... may be some knowledge aspect, too," she admitted. Nihlus had seemed to strongly believe that there was more to it than mere visions, and she was willing to trust his judgment.

"Look," Kaidan said, going defensive again, "I'm just telling you what everyone else sees. Dr T'Soni is interested in you for more than your Prothean knowledge. However you decide to handle her is your business. I just didn't want you to be surprised by it."

"Thanks, Kaid," she smiled. She didn't think what he was saying was true, but he believed it, and that was enough for her. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something myself."

"Oh? What is it?"

So she told him about the L2s taking Chairman Burns hostage, about the boarding of his ship, and the demands being made. And when she was finished, he leant back in his chair, breathing out slowly as he ran hands through his short black hair. For a moment he was silent, considering the consequences of the situation. She understood his turmoil. L2s had all been fitted with their implants at around the same time, and they were all of a similar age. It was highly probably that Kaidan had known most of the biotics, if not all of them, during his time at BAaT. This was undoubtedly opening up old wounds for him, his loyalty torn between his old friends and the military he now served.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked at last.

"I need to know what's going on inside that ship," she told him. "Before we get there. You _know_ these men and women. Can you tell me what's going through their heads right now?"

"I knew the children they used to be. That doesn't mean I know them. I can tell you one thing, though. That they've done this, shows how desperate they've become. Not everybody implanted with an L2 survived, and of those who did, a lot of them suffered some pretty serious side effects. Partial or full paralysis, degenerative motor disease, severe mental impairment, loss of sight or hearing... I was one of the lucky ones. I got off easily."

"I know they have it tough, Kaid. And I want to find a way to help them, I really do. But they've taken a man hostage, and right now, it's the life of the hostage that's my primary concern. In any terrorist organisation, there's a leader, someone who directs those beneath him. Do you have any idea who might be leading this cell?"

He gave it a moment of consideration, his brown eyes taking on a distant look as he searched his memory. "I can think of two likely candidates, and about half a dozen who're less likely, but unstable enough to try something like this."

"Who are the likely people?"

"Stuart Armani or Josh East. They were the biggest kids in BAaT, the ones everyone else looked to for example. They both hated Vyrnnus, the turian mercenary that Conatix brought in to train us, with a passion. They were both natural leaders... kinda like you, I guess. I think if anybody would be leading this terrorist thing, it would be them."

"Do you know if any more L2s joined the military?"

"Err, yeah," he said, looking confused. "Hendel Mitra joined before I did. Constance Cole joined around the same time, we were in basic together. Jimmy Pacelli came not long after. But why do you ask?"

"Because if the terrorists on the Ontario have been joined by military biotics, they're not only unstable but organised and potentially well-armed."

"I can assure you, that's not the case, Ellie," Kaidan said immediately, and with confidence in his voice. "I keep in touch with all three on a regular basis. Cole is out in the Terminus Systems, running ops with her units. Pacelli went in for intelligence after basic... he's based at Arcturus now. Mitra's become chief of security for the Ascension Project, at Jon Grissom Academy. If any of them had gone missing, brass probably would have warned you to expect them."

"Alright," she said, resting her hand on his arm. "I just had to check. I believe you."

The muscles in his arm relaxed somewhat at her words. "Do you want me to speak to them?" he asked. "When we get to the ship?"

"No. For now, I don't want them to know I have an L2 aboard. If they know you're here, they might grow suspicious," she told him. "I'd like to try and work something out, but if necessary, I might need you to come across and speak to them."

"I'll do it," he said immediately, and she hoped to god that it was for the sake of the mission, and that his loyalties weren't being swayed. "But I'd like to ask something of you. When you speak with them, treat them like people. I know how the media betrays them. As dangerous, unstable monsters. They're dehumanised... and there comes a point when you start to believe it yourself, that the rumours might be true, that you might not be entirely human, allowed the same rights and privileges."

"Have I ever given you reason to doubt that I'd treat L2s as anything other than people?"

"No," he admitted.

"And I promise, I'm not about to start now. So come on, finish your breakfast," she told him with a smile.

"Yes, mother," he snorted. But he obeyed, because he knew she wanted the best for him.

o - o - o - o - o

"ETA to MSV Ontario?" Ellie asked Joker. She was standing in the cockpit, behind the pilot's chair, looking out of the main window. She couldn't see the ship yet, but you had to get pretty close to a ship before you could see it.

"Five minutes, commander," he replied.

"And the stealth systems are...?"

"Engaged and running smoothly. They'll never see us coming."

"Good."

"You're not _really_ going across there to negotiate with a bunch of biotic terrorists, are you?"

"Sure am," she said. "Unless you'd like to go in my place, of course."

"Oh yeah," he said sarcastically. "I'll dazzle them with my people-skills. So, uh, what do we do if Alenko's psycho friends decide to take _you_ hostage, as well.

_"Tell him I heard that,"_ Kaidan said through the subdermal microphone-speaker that had been implanted just beneath her skin behind her ear. The soundwaves of his voice were transmitted directly to her ear canal, audible only to her.

"Kaidan would like me to remind you that he _can_ hear all that you say about his psycho friends," she told Joker.

"Just saying what everyone's thinking, commander. If you want sugar-coating, you gotta go to Pressly for that."

"Noted. And if they take me hostage, your orders remain the same. Hold position. Wait. That ship's a kowloon class freighter, it has no weapons and can't even hope to outrun Normandy."

"Speak of the devil," Joker said, pointing out the window at an asteroid field. "There's the Ontario now."

She took a step forward and peered through the window. All she could see was asteroids. If the Ontario _was_ in there, it was well hidden.

"Clever of them," Joker said. "Nothing bigger than a frigate could enter that field. Keeps them safe from being approached by dreadnoughts. Doesn't stop them being blasted to shreds, of course, but it _does_ mean they're more difficult to board."

"Take us in, and hold position five hundred metres off their docking port."

"That's pretty close, commander. If they look out of a window, they'll _definitely_ see us."

"I'm hoping they won't be looking out of windows, though. And it will give them something to think about, when we appear on their sensors, close enough to breath down their necks."

"Alright," he said, sounding unconvinced. "Entering asteroid field."

Ellie had a strong urge to duck as the first huge chunk of rock passed overhead, and Joker chuckled in his seat.

"First passage through an asteroid field, commander?"

"First passage through an asteroid field with this view," she amended. "Those things look pretty damn close."

"Relax, we haven't gone closer than a hundred metres to the nearest one. They just look closer because the rest of space is so big and empty."

"Are we within comm range of the Ontario?"

"Aye commander."

"Then open a channel, please."

His fingers skipped over one of the control panels, and he nodded at her.

"This is the Alliance ship SSV Normandy," she said, speaking clearly and modulating her voice so that it was neutral. "We've come regarding your request for negotiation."

For a moment there was silence, and then a man's voice spoke, angry and desperate, full of rage.

"Our demands are simple and do not require your ship to be here, Normandy. Give us reparations for L2 biotics maimed by the experiments performed by the Alliance, or we will kill Chairman Burns and the three other hostages aboard this vessel."

"We're willing to negotiate the terms of the hostages release, but Alliance authorities insist on a face-to-face negotiation. We would like to send a team aboard, to talk with you."

"Unacceptable! Agree to reparations, or the hostages die."

The comm line cut off, and silence reigned.

"That went well," Joker said drily.

"Kaidan, did you recognise the speaker?" she asked.

_ "Yeah. It's Armani. I've never heard him sound so angry, though. The man I remember was clever and verbose. Loved to hear himself speak. For him to have gone from that to this... he must be desperate."_

"What now, commander?"

"Now," she sighed, "we wait."

o - o - o - o - o

Sat in the empty co-pilot's seat, Ellie picked at one of her finger nails that had gotten chipped, and looked out at the stars. When she was younger, she had seen them only as faint, twinkling shadows, their brightness drowned out by the ambient light of the London Metropolis. She had to climb onto the roof of the orphanage to see them at all, and even then, she had barely been able to see them through the urban glow, only the brightest of the stars visible from her position. Then, when she was forced to join the Blood Dogs, she hadn't seen any stars at all for several years. The gang spent their time at ground-level, where crime was rife, and light from the sky-scrapers and sky-walks blocked out the entire sky at night.

She had been seventeen when she had first seen the stars properly. She'd been part of a group of gang members sent out of the city to wait for a truck, which was delivering medical supplies. They planned to hijack it, taking the supplies for themselves, for use and for selling on the black market. Whilst waiting for the truck to pass, she and Miguel had lain out in a field, just off the side of the road, their heads resting on their arms as they looked up at the sky for the first time and truly saw something of beauty. The concept of constellations had not been unfamiliar to her, but she had only known a few of them, so she and Miguel had spent an hour naming more of them.

There had been The Rabbit, The Angry Klingon, The Jumping Frog, The Crashed Dreadnought, and Miguel had named the brightest star in the sky after her. It was only later that she learnt that star was actually Venus, the planet named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. She was pretty sure Miguel hadn't known that at the time, but she had never got a chance to ask him.

Since then, she looked at the stars every chance she got. They were always different on every plant you went to, and so many of them were unexplored. It was her hope to some day see a shooting star, because she'd heard that their beauty was made all the more poignant by the shortness of their lives. They fell through the atmosphere, burning brightly, flashing out in a blaze of glory that any lifer would be proud of.

A blinking light on the console in front of Joker snapped her out of her reverie.

"Thank god," he said. "Uh, not that your company's been a drag or anything, commander."

"Just open the line," she said, shaking her head. They'd spent the first hour of their wait chatting about small, unimportant things, like people they'd met during basic, and what Joker's life had been like on Arcturus station, where he'd grown up and developed his love of ships. After that first hour, however, they'd slipped into a comfortable silence in which Joker had started reading a book on his PDA, and Ellie had chosen to look at the stars, and see if she could spot The Rabbit, or The Angry Klingon, from this new position in space. Of course, she hadn't been able to see any of the familiar constellations, but naming new ones had kept her mind occupied.

"SSV Normandy, this is the voice of biotic justice," Armani said. "We agree to a face-to-face negotiation."

"I'll arrange for my team to be sent over right away."

"Unacceptable. You may send _one_ representative. Unarmed."

"Please stand by," she said, and gestured for Joker to mute the comm. Then she waited for thirty seconds, picking at the last annoying bit of her nail whilst Joker looked at her expectantly. When she was ready, she nodded to the pilot, and he opened the line again. "Very well. We'll send one representative. But we want your assurances that they won't be harmed, and they will be free to return here after speaking with you."

"We make no such assurances. Send your representative, or there will be no negotiation."

The line went dead again.

"If you ask me, storming the place sounds like a _much_ better idea, commander," Joker said.

"That's why you're the pilot, Joker.

"Why'd you even bother asking to send a whole team in? You know the biotics wouldn't go for it.

"I know," she said. "I was only ever going in there alone. But now they think they've won a point."

"Ah, sneaky."

"Deactivate the stealth system and bring us to dock with the Ontario. Kaidan, did you get all of that?"

_"Sure did,"_ he replied. _"Good luck. I'll try to help you as much as I can, but just working off voices is going to be difficult. I wish we could use a camera, get an accurate picture of who's there."_

"Too easy to detect," she said. They'd already had this conversation once before. "I want them to trust me, not think I'm secretly surveilling them."

_"I know. I guess I'm just not thrilled about you going in there alone."_

"It's what I was trained for, Kaidan. Don't worry."

_ "Sure. When hell freezes over."_

There was a gentle rocking motion as the Normandy docked with the Ontario, and Joker swivelled his chair around to face her.

"It's all yours now, commander," he said. "Pressure between the ships has been equalised. You can go over whenever you like. After you're gone, I'll seal the airlock to prevent the biotics doing anything crazy and trying to hijack _our_ ship, so you'll need to enter your access code when you want to come back."

"I'll keep that in mind. Wish me luck."

"Good luck, commander. Kick some biotic ass. Uh, not literally, of course."

She left the cockpit and stepped into the airlock, waiting for the door behind her to close and the decontamination screen to activate. As she went through decon, she ran through a couple of exercises Dr Kay had taught her, emptying her mind and focusing on her breathing, bringing her awareness of her surroundings to the fore as she considered all that she knew. She had read up on Armani before leaving the ship, but there hadn't been all that much to read. After BAaT - Biotic Acclimatisation and Temperance Training - he had done a few odd jobs for people, but struggled to find work, a problem encountered by many biotics who were feared by 'normal' people for their unnatural abilities. Two years after BAaT had been shut down, Armani had dropped off the radar.

The door in front of her, leading to the Ontario, opened up, revealing a second airlock. When she stepped into it, the door behind her closed, and she was subjected to a second decontamination screening.

How many L2s were aboard the ship? All told, there had been around fifty students at BAaT, when it started up. By the time it had closed down, nine years later, eight of the students had been committed to mental institutions, driven insane by their powers and by the harsh training regime, and five had died, leaving thirty-seven free biotics. Four of them had joined the military, including Kaidan, whilst half of the remaining thirty-three were either too damaged or too weak to use their abilities for anything other than moving glasses of water across tables. She could safely estimate between five and twenty L2s being present, her best and worst scenario guesses.

Decon completed, and the door opened. She stepped out into the short corridor which terminated in another door. Already, she knew the layout of the ship like the back of her hand. N7 training had consisted of attacking _and_ defending kowloon class freighters. They were all built to the same template, adapted by individual owners depending on whether they were to be used for cargo freight, passenger haulage, or both.

Reaching the door, she pressed the entry button, and it slid open. She was immediately met by the sight of four men and two women, half of them surrounded by biotic fields, the other half pointing pistols at her head.

"My name is Commander Eloise Shepard," she said, holding her hands up to show she held no weapons. "As agreed, I've come to negotiate for the release of your hostages."

None of the people spoke, but one of the men walked around behind her, frisking her for a weapon. He found none because she had brought none, but he confiscated her omni-tool, obviously aware that it was her most potent weapon available. Without it, she couldn't set up a damping field to suppress biotic ability by disrupting mass effect fields in the area.

"This way," one of the women said, pointing at a door with her gun. One of the other men took the lead, and she was escorted by three of the biotics through the cargo hold, whilst the other three remained behind to watch the door. Presumably, in case anybody else was stupid enough to come through it.

_"I don't recognise that voice,"_ Kaidan told her. _"Can you get her to speak a little more?"_

"Do you have a name?" Ellie asked, turning her head to address the woman.

"Keep moving," the man in front of her growled, poking her shoulder with his pistol.

Turning her head back to the front, she continued in silence. Clearly she would have to wait to reach Armani. Either these people didn't want to talk to her, or they felt they had no authority to.

They passed through the cargo hold, which held nothing more than a few crates and containers - food rations, she suspected - and into another corridor. The man in front of her turned right, leading her towards one of the living quarters, near the front of the ship. In her mind, she could remember defending this place along with four other N7 trainees against mechs programmed to attack. Things had been much simpler, back then, when all she had to worry about was shooting robots.

The door to the living quarters opened, revealing five more biotics - three women, and two men. She recognised Armani immediately. Tall, with a shaven head, he matched his profile photograph. He was also holding a pistol to the head of a man who had been forced onto his knees before him. The man on the floor, shaking with fear and the stress of being forced to kneel with his arms behind his head, was Chairman Burns. His face was painted by terror and exhaustion. This must be hell for him.

"Close enough," Armani said, and her guides stopped her half a dozen feet away from him. The two following her left, returning to the cargo hold, but the man who had led her remained, his pistol still pointed at her.

"I'm Commander Eloise Shepard," she said, her hands still in front of her to show they were empty.

"We took this from her," her guide said, holding up her omni-tool. "It's military-issue."

_"That's Francis Hope,"_ Kaidan told her._ "We used to call him Frankie, because he thought Francis was a girl's name. He's good at creating singularities, but could never get the hang of creating barriers."_

"You're the one I've been talking to on the ship?" Armani asked her.

"That's right," she replied calmly.

"Your little stunt almost set us running. How did your ship approach us without being detected?"

"It's a new design. Classified. But I didn't come here to talk about my ship."

"No. You came because you thought you could barter for Burns' life." Armani pressed his gun directly to Burns' head, and the chairman whimpered in fright.

"And I still do. We want the same things-"

"Don't give me that bullshit, commander," Armani said angrily. "We don't want the same things at all. You want to get another shiny medal for saving the life of the chairman here. I want justice for L2s, and what the Alliance did to us."

"I understand that," she said, keeping her voice soft and neutral. "But this isn't the right way to go about it."

"Really? Because we've tried everything else. These bastards on the Transhuman committee won't listen. And why should they? Listen to the name. _Transhuman_? Why _should_ they acknowledge that they've ruined the lives of other people, when they can't even see us as human at all?"

"What's your name?" she asked, hoping to get him to open up a little.

"What do you care?"

"I like to know who I'm talking to," she said. "I've given you my name. I'd like to keep this civil, and civilised. I don't want to think of you as 'just some biotic terrorist', but how can I think any differently if you won't let me put a name to a face?"

"Armani," he said. "Stuart Armani."

"And you're an L2?"

"That's right."

"Are all of the biotics here L2s?"

"A couple of L3s who sympathise with our cause."

"Is there anybody here who needs medical attention?"

"Why?" he asked, casting a suspicious glance at her.

"Because first and foremost, I consider this a humanitarian mission. I don't want anyone to die. I don't want anybody hurt. If I can offer medical care to anybody who needs it, I will."

"Almost everybody here needs medical care, Shepard. How do you fix someone whose brain has been irreversibly damaged by a malfunctioning implant? How do you stop somebody's central nervous system from shorting out every time they create a mass effect field? How do you undo years worth of muscular dystrophy caused by eezo complications? Because that's the sort of care that we need. And do you know what we're getting? Absolutely jack shit."

"And you think monetary reparations will make everything right?"

"Reparations are only part of our demands," he said. "By agreeing to pay reparations, the Alliance will be taking responsibility for their actions, for screwing up and making mistakes. We want the sort of care that soldiers get. We want the terminally ill to be cared for in a nice hospital, for the rest of their lives. We want the state to provide for us, because we can't provide for ourselves. How do you get a job when nobody trusts you? If we can't even feed ourselves, how are we supposed to take care of our medical needs? We were all purposely exposed to eezo whilst our mothers were carrying us. The majority died at birth with gross defects. Of those who survived, most of us suffer. Only a handful of L2s can function normally, as 'productive members of society'. It might have been more, but Conatix screwed us over with a teacher who tortured his students until some of them died. The dangerous L2 implants, and the dangerous training, was all backed and funded by the Alliance. When BAaT shut down, they left us to quietly disappear. But we're not disappearing, Shepard. Society made us, and now they're going to have to deal with us. If our demands aren't met today, other biotics will strike elsewhere."

"You're talking about organised terrorism," she pointed out. "If you resort to that, the Alliance will have all the excuse it needs to send an army against you. You'll die, and not even as martyrs. The media will be all over it. You'll be portrayed as monsters, and people will call out for your heads. You'll be giving them _exactly_ what they want. They _want_ you to be violent, and kill people, because you'll be starting your own witch-hunt."

"You're Alliance. Why should I believe a word you say?"

"Because I'm the one who's offering you a way out," she said firmly. "Right now, you're a criminal, but you haven't killed anybody. You're looking at jail time. All of you. If you stand down and co-operate, I promise I'll do everything within my power, as an Alliance officer and as a Spectre, to make your sentences as light as possible. And I'll personally recommend that the Alliance reconsider its stance on reparations. The moment you take even one life, there will never be any reparations. You'll be seen as criminals by the Alliance and the public. All you'll get is death."

"Half of us are dying anyway! At least we'll die fighting for what we believe in. Truth, and justice for those who deserve it."

"Stuart," said one of the women, approaching him and laying a hand on his arm, the one that was pointing a gun at Burns. "Maybe we should listen to her." Her large brown eyes pleaded with Armani, far more than her voice did. Her long, dark glossy hair fell around her shoulders, but her olive skin looked unnaturally pale and thin. "If the Alliance will listen to her..."

_"Rahna?"_ Kaidan said loudly in her ear. _"What the hell's she doing there? She'd never do anything like this... she's gentle, wouldn't hurt a fly."_

"Do not fall for her lies," Armani told her. "The commander has no reason to help us. She's just like everybody else. I can see the disgust in her eyes. If we stand down, her team will come swooping in to disarm us, and before you know it we'll be put in solitary, spending the rest of our lives in jail, where nobody has to see or hear us, and face up to their own mistakes."

"That's not true," she said.

"Oh? Why else would they send a Spectre to deal with us?" he sneered. "We all know what Spectres do. They make problems go away, and don't have to answer to anybody for it. Well, we're not going away. My answer is no, Shepard. No deal. The Alliance agrees to reparations within one day, or Burns dies. Then the Alliance, and all those people living their safe, cushy lives back on Earth, will know that the L2s mean business."

_"Let me talk to him,"_ Kaidan said. _"He's never going to trust you, he's too suspicious of authorities. Let me try."_

"Armani," she said. "I _do_ have your interests at heart. One of my best friends is an L2. We've served together for years, and even now, he's working on my ship, under my command."

"One of those brain-washed traitors who joined the military?" he said angrily. "I don't give a damn about them. Where are they now? Ran off and jumped into bed with the Alliance the moment the offer came along. They abandoned us."

"No," she said. "They made the best of a bad situation. Like you said, they're the few who could actually function once BAaT closed down. They made homes for themselves, and made friends. Because of them, people are starting to see that biotics are not to be feared, that they aren't all that different to 'normals'. You're the ones who are undermining all of that. For every good thing the military L2s do, there's a media scare-report detailing how L2 terrorists have attacked another government building, or set off another bomb. People see you as monsters because you behave like monsters."

"_They're_ the monsters," Armani insisted.

"Look," she sighed. "I don't want to debate the state of humanity with you. Kaidan Alenko is aboard the Normandy, and he'd like to come across and talk to you. I might not be able to fully understand your point of view, but he can."

"I have nothing to say to that traitor."

"But he has something to say to you. I'd like you to listen."

"Very well," he relented. "He may come. Alone and unarmed. You, however, will stay."

"Okay," she agreed. "I'll need my omni-tool, to contact my ship." It was handed back to her, and she activated it. "Normandy, this is Shepard. Please ask Lieutenant Alenko to come over to the Ontario, alone and unarmed."

"Will do, commander," Pressly replied. He'd probably already been briefed by Kaidan, who was monitoring everything she said through the sub-dermal microphone, but she still had to put on a show for the biotics. They didn't know he'd been listening to everything said.

"I warn you, Shepard, if this is some sort of trick-"

"No trick," she assured him. "I'm not about to resort to trickery - not when you have me in your custody and a gun pointing at another man's head."

"Glad to hear it," he said. "Because if this _is_ a trick, Burns will be the first to die. And you'll be the second."

o - o - o - o - o

Kaidan's heart was pounding in his chest as he stepped into the airlock. Rahna was here. Rahna, who was so soft and gentle, that his actions when he had stood up for her had horrified her, driving her away from him. How could she be here, not only condoning terrorism, but actively taking part in it? What had changed, in the past thirteen years, to turn her into somebody who would threaten the life of an unarmed man?

When the airlock door opened, he stepped through, strode down the corridor, and opened the next door. When it opened, he immediately recognised one of the biotics pointing her gun at him.

"Cat!" he said.

"Kaidan," she replied. Her voice was flat, her expression did not change, and she didn't lower the gun. "You're looking well. Alliance feeding you enough?"

"Yeah," he said, uncomfortably. The Cat he had known had been a short, chubby little girl with white-blonde pigtails. Now, she was gaunt, her skin sallow, and her hair was a dirty straw colour, lanky as it framed her face. She obviously wasn't get enough calories to offset the use of her biotic abilities. The other biotics with her didn't look any better, and it took him a full moment of staring to recognise one of the men.

"Patrick? Is that you?" he asked, amazed at the transformation his old friend had undergone. No longer was he a tall boy with a wide smile, his black hair pulled back into a ponytail. Instead he was a nearly emaciated man, hunched in the shoulders, missing a front tooth. His hair had been cut short, shaved into furrows, and a series of dark tattoos wound their way down his neck.

"Hello, Kaidan," he said, his voice as emotionless as Cat's. "I'm surprised you remember me."

"Of course I do. How could I forget any of you?" He glanced at the three people he didn't recognise, two more men and one woman. "Except you. I don't remember any of you from BAaT."

"We're L3s," one of the men said. "We've seen how the Alliance betrayed the L2s, and we're not going to sit around and wait for that to happen to us. Stuart's a great man. He's standing up for all biotics. Not just L2s, but everybody from L1s right through to L4s. He knows we have to stick together, to make a society that works. But first, we need treatment, for the L2s who've been damaged by everything the Alliance has done to them."

"Cat," he said, ignoring the man's rant, "is Rahna here?"

"Yes," she replied. "She's with Stuart."

"But why? What's she doing here? How can she condone what he's doing?"

"I told you. She's _with_ Stuart."

"Oh," he said, feeling his heart sink. The girl he had adored as a young man, was now in a relationship with a cold-hearted terrorist leader. How much his universe had changed...

"We're supposed to take you to Armani," Cat said. "I trust you came unarmed, and that we don't have to frisk you?"

"C'mon, Cat. You know I don't need to bring a gun to be armed."

"Maybe not. But, just to be safe..." She reached up to his amp port and slipped something inside it. Immediately he felt cold, a chill passing through his body.

"What the hell's that," he said, reaching behind to feel for his port.

"Personal damping field," she said. "Patrick rigged it up. Leave it in, or Stuart will kill your commander."

The thought of Ellie being shot made him go even colder, so he withdrew his fingers from his neck. "So this is what it's come to?" he asked. "Biotics turning on biotics?"

"Just a precaution," Patrick said. "You're one of the strongest to come out of BAaT. I bet when you're spiking, you could even take on these L3s all at once without breaking a sweat," he said, pointing his thumb towards the newer biotics. "Stuart just wants to make sure you don't try any daring heroics. He knows what you army-types can get like."

"I promise I won't try anything," he assured his old friends. "I just want to help. It's time to make the Alliance see that the problems faced by L2s are not going away. And if we can do that without bloodshed, all the better."

"That sounds more like the Kaidan I remember," Cat smiled, clapping him on the shoulder. "Let's go and see Stuart."

She led him through the ship, and towards the living compartments. When she opened the door, it was a great relief to see Ellie, under guard but unharmed. He'd taken off his ear-piece before leaving the Normandy, so as not to give her away, so he had no idea what had been happening whilst he had been talking to his old friends. She gave him a smile and a nod when he stepped into the room.

Then he saw _her_. Rahna. Dark circles hung beneath her beautiful, wide brown eyes, but her skin was much paler than he remembered, and she looked fragile. Frail. Her clothes were hanging off her, and beneath her shirt he could see her collarbone, protruding in an unhealthy way. Of all the L2s present in the room - and he recognised each and every one of them - the only one who looked even remote healthy was Stuart. But even he was showing signs of failing health. His hand, holding the gun at the head of a man kneeling before him, shook very slightly as his muscles tremored, and his recently shaved facial hair was growing back through in uneven patches. His head had been shaved bald, and Kaidan knew that some of the L2s did that when they started prematurely losing hair. A sad side effect of eezo exposure.

"Stuart," he said, stepping forward to stand beside Ellie. "It's been a while."

"Twelve years, if I remember correctly."

"Sounds about right. I see you've been having some big ideas, since BAaT."

"What I've been _trying _to do is survive. To help the others survive." He removed the gun from Burns' head, but did not put it away. "You taught me that, Kaidan. You taught me that sometimes, to help others, to do what's right, you have to stand up and defend yourself. You have to send a message; that you're not going to take it any longer."

"I didn't send a message, Stuart. I reacted in anger. I made a mistake. I killed a man, and it's something I've regretted my entire life. When you allow your emotions to take over, they replace logic. It's harder to see what's real. It's harder to make sense of what's happening around you. Trust me. I know."

"You don't know shit, Alenko," Stuart replied, anger flooding his face. "You think the military's hard? You think it's hard living on double-rations, sleeping in a warm place, being given free medical care? How you can even stand there and pretend you know what it's like for us in an insult."

"Just because you've given up on me, doesn't mean I've given up on you," he said. Then he looked around, at Rahna's face, at the faces of all the L2s, his former friends. "Any of you. I want to help."

"Help?" Stuart scoffed. "Where were you when Tom put a gun to his own head and pulled the trigger because he couldn't stand to live through one more migraine? Where were you when Olson was arrested for stealing painkillers from a chemist? He was thrown into a cell and died there because the police refused to treat him. Where were you when Anna's implant spiked and overloaded, crippling her with a massive electric shock that went right to her brain? She's still in hospital, but she doesn't talk. She doesn't interact with anybody. She just lies there, dribbling, a vegetable who has to be fed through a tube to keep her alive. And you think you can _help_ us?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner," he said. "But I couldn't have changed any of those things. I couldn't have saved Tom, or Olson, or Anna. I can, however, change what's happening here. I came because I thought I could save lives. And," he admitted, "because I'd like to talk to Rahna. Alone."

"She doesn't want to talk to you."

"I already know the two of you are together, if that's what you're afraid of," he said calmly, though it pained him to do so. "Cat told me. And I'm not here to cause trouble between the two of you. I just want to talk to her. About what happened back on Jump Zero."

"Stuart," Rahna said, laying her hand on the large man's shoulder, "it's alright. I will speak with Kaidan."

"Alright," Stuart agreed. "But don't talk all day, Alenko. She's not well. None of us are."

Rahna gestured for him to follow, and he did. She took him out of the room and into the next living area, which turned out to be a bedroom. Rahna walked straight to the window, turning her back on the stars to face him.

"It is... good to see you, Kaidan," she said, her eyes drinking in the sight of his body. "You're looking very well. I don't think I've ever seen an L2 in such good condition."

"I work out a lot," he said dismissively. He approached her cautiously, sensing she still wasn't entirely comfortable being alone with him. "Rahna, what are you doing here? It's not like you to be involved in something like this. I remember how you cried when Tom squashed an ant that had somehow found its way on to the station."

Her beautiful dark eyes went to the floor, and when she spoke, her voice was quiet. "I'm here for Stuart."

"So I see. But I don't understand how you can just let him take hostages and threaten to-"

"I'm dying, Kaidan." Her words shocked him to silence, and when she lifted her gaze back to his face, her brown eyes were filled with tears. "I have been for the past six months. Cancer, caused by eezo exposure. It started out as small headaches. At first I thought I was just using my biotics too much. Then they became migraines, and I became worried. I'd never been one of the L2s to suffer from migraines. They're normal for some, like you, and not life-threatening, but it was a warning alarm for me. Stuart managed to scrape enough money together to get me into a hospital for a scan. I have a tumour, inside my head, and it is slowly wrapping itself around my brain. The doctor said I had three months to live, and that was five months ago. I'm on borrowed time, and Stuart knows it. This was his last attempt to get me the medical care that I need. I asked him not to... I told him I was ready to die, and that if he would be by my side when it happened, I would go in peace. But he couldn't accept that. He said he didn't want to lose me. He convinced the others it was time to take a stand, and they arranged this kidnapping. I came along because I hoped to dissuade him from this course of action. And because I feared to die alone."

"Oh, Rahna," he said, reaching out for her. She took a step backwards, away from him, and it felt like his heart was breaking all over again.

"I'm sorry, Kaidan," she said. "I know that you care, but... Part of me is still that little girl, who was terrified and heart-broken when you killed Commander Vyrnnus."

"You don't seem to have a problem with Stuart," he said, trying to ignore the way his chest felt like it was being constricted.

"Stuart is not a bad man. He is just desperate. He has spent twelve years watching his friends die." The tears in her eyes spilled down her cheeks. "He still goes to see Anna, in the hospital. He reads the daily news to her. He takes her flowers, to make the room look nice for her. He does it even though he knows she's an empty shell. Because he knows that, without hope, we have nothing. We are nothing. He can't give up that hope. Not even now."

"Am I a bad man?" he asked.

"No. But the past... it is the past, Kaidan. I can't go back, and I only have a short time left in which to go forward. It would be best if you and your commander left. If I have not been able to dissuade Stuart, neither of you will be able to."

"I may know a way to resolve this situation," he said.

"How?"

"Let me... let my commander... speak to Burns. She's very logical. Very persuasive. She has a way of getting people to see things her way. If she can get him to change his stance on the reparations, nobody has to die here."

"I... I will speak to Stuart," she said, a glimmer of hope on her face. "I will ask him to allow it."

"Thank you."

They returned to the first living area, where nothing had changed. Ellie was watching on patiently as Chairman Burns looked terrified. As soon as they entered the room, Rahna went straight to Stuart, taking him aside for a moment. Whilst she was keeping him occupied, Kaiden stepped up to Ellie, to whisper quietly beside her ear. He knew her hearing had been augmented beyond that of normal soldiers, and she could probably hear what Rahna was saying to Stuart.

"Rahna's dying of brain cancer," he said quickly. "She should already be dead. If you can get Burns to arrange treatment for her, even if it's only palliative care, Stuart might stand down. He did this for her, though I get the feeling the other L2s aren't in much better condition."

She nodded imperceptibly, her gaze fixed on Burns' face. He could tell she was already trying to think of ways to convince the chairman to agree to reparations. Not that he looked like he needed much convincing. After two days of being held hostage, possibly deprived of food and water, he would likely agree to anything, just to get away. The hard part would be to get him to stick to his agreement. Back-pedalling was something most politicians didn't shy away from.

"Chairman Burns," Stuart said, and the man on the floor flinched. "You may stand up. It seems Commander Shepard wishes to speak with you. I, too, am interested in hearing what she has to say."

"Chairman," Ellie said, stepping forward, "I put to you the fact that the Alliance has a moral and physical obligation of care for these people. Regardless of how they were exposed to element zero, the implants they were given, and the training they were put through, was backed by the Alliance. Mistakes were made, not intentionally, but because at the time, the people running the programme didn't know any better. They thought they were doing what was best, but actually they made the worst mistakes possible. Is it too much to ask that reparations be paid to those who can no longer support themselves, due to social stigma and the injuries inflicted on them from the moment they were inducted into BAaT and given their implants?"

"If I capitulate to terrorists, I will lose my position," he argued. "Then I won't be able to help anybody, will I?"

"Then maybe I can offer a solution," Ellie said. She walked forward, stepping between Burns and Stuart, a natural mediator, and both men listened to the soothing tone of her voice. Even Kaidan felt himself swayed by it, a little. "Stuart, if you and your people will stand down, and let the Chairman and his crew go, then in six months time, when this has all blown over, Burns will be free to re-open the debate on reparations. Next time, he can vote in your favour."

"That's not good enough!" Stuart argued. "There are L2s who won't survive another six months!"

"Then let him take the worst off back to Earth with him, and arrange immediate medical care for them. Then, when he's able, he can arrange for provisions for the rest of the L2s."

"And we're just supposed to trust his benevolence? The moment he's away from here, he'll be back to his old ways, and anyone who returns to Earth with him will die in a cell, alone."

"I wouldn't allow a sick person to die like that," Burns insisted. "If any require urgent medical care, I can see to it the moment we return to Earth."

"I don't believe you."

"Then maybe you don't have to," Ellie said. "I have an idea. Something that will help to get public sympathy on your side. But I'll need something from the Normandy to make it work.

Twenty minutes later, Kaidan was standing in front of a video recorder that Johnson had brought over from the Normandy and was now manning.

"Are you ready, sir?" Johnson asked.

"Ready," he confirmed, and the recording light came on. "My name is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. For the past twelve years I have been serving in the Alliance Military, fighting for humanity. I am an N7 marine, and an L2 biotic. From time to time I get migraines that last for days, and the pain gets so intense that, sometimes, I wish I was dead. But I am one of the lucky ones. Here are some people who are not so lucky."

He stepped out of the camera zone, and Rahna took his place, looking even more frail than before. Her eyes were large inside her head, and now that he knew how sick she was, he could see it within her.

"I am Rahna Sevim, and I am an L2 biotic," she said, her voice quavering a little as she spoke. "I grew up in a lovely house in Turkey, with a caring family. When I was nine years old, I was taken to Gagarin Station, fitted with an L2 implant, and put through rigorous and traumatic training to teach me how to control my biotic abilities. Five months ago I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. I don't know how long I have left to live. I might last another three months, or I could drop dead in an hour. Maybe I will have a slow, painful end, or maybe I will simply go to sleep one night and never wake up. It is not the fact that I am dying which scares me, but the knowledge that nothing will be learnt from my death. That, even now, other L2s are suffering as I am. I, too, consider myself lucky. I will die. Others are trapped inside their own bodies, prisoners inside their own warped minds. At least when I go, I will do so with dignity. All I want is respect and dignity for my fellow biotics."

When Rahna stepped away, Patrick replaced her, and Kaidan approached Ellie, who was standing at the back of the room, watching over the proceedings.

"This was a good idea," he whispered. "It's going to go viral on the extranet, once we upload it." She nodded, and he continued. "I know that I might have just put my career on the line, but it was worth it."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure your career's safe," she whispered back. "Gotta be _some_ perks to being a Spectre, right?"

He smiled, and put an arm around her shoulders. This may not have been the ending that the Alliance wanted, but at least nobody had been killed. And in his book, that meant the mission had been a success.

o - o - o - o - o

"I can't say that this was what I had in mind when I asked you to deal with the situation, commander," Hackett said, later that evening.

Ellie, reclining in her office chair in front of the her computer console, let out a very quiet sigh. "I know, Admiral. But it was the only way to peacefully resolve the situation. I know you wanted to keep a lid on this thing, but in the end, I think it will work out in our favour. Now that the general public is getting an idea of what the L2s are really like, they're seeing that they're not monsters, just normal people like you and me who were given the short end of the stick through no fault of their own."

"It's had over a million hits already, and it's only been up an hour."

"I suspect it will be far more than that by tomorrow."

"What about these L2s?" he asked. "How many of them need urgent care?"

"Three. I've got my doctor - Doctor Chakwas - treating them as best she can at the moment, but we're not equipped for this. They need to get back to Earth, ASAP."

"I'm sure Doctor Chakwas will do her best. As I recall, she's very good at her job," he replied, and Ellie grinned. She _knew_ he'd remember her! "In the mean time, I'm sending a ship from the Fifth Fleet to rendezvous with the Ontario, and escort her back to Earth."

"We'll stay in the area until your ship arrives, sir."

"Very good. Hackett out."

With the admiral gone, she jumped up from her chair and went to her drinks cabinet. From it she took two glasses and a bottle of Sherry, and opened the bottle, pouring the liquid so that it almost filled the glasses. She didn't know where the Sherry had come from, but every time she went to the Citadel, more alcohol appeared in her drinks cabinet. Gifts from people wanting to earn her favour, she guessed, or Pressly trying to turn her into an alcoholic so that he could gain control of the ship.

Stopping by her console again, she pressed the internal comm button and said, "Lieutenant Alenko, could I see you please?" Then she took the glasses to the small coffee table, put them down, and sank into her chair. It only took a moment for the door chime to sound. "Come in," she called.

Kaidan stepped into the room, still in his uniform, looking a little tired but much healthier than any of the other L2s had.

"Fifth Fleet's sending a ship to escort the Ontario back to Earth," she explained. "They'll probably be here in a few hours, so if you'd like to say goodbye to your friends, now's probably the time."

"I already have," he said. "No point making it a messy, protracted thing. They've survived without me these past twelve years, and perhaps they'll survive another twelve. They've got their own concerns to take care of, now. They don't need me hanging around, reminding them of the past."

She stood up and gave him one of the glasses, which he accepted gratefully. "Oh, before I forget," he said, "you might want to take a look at this." He reached behind his neck and unclipped something from his amp port. When he handed it to her, she saw that it was an amp, but not one she had ever seen before.

"What is it?"

"Something that disrupts mass effect fields, stops a biotic from using their powers. Patrick forgot to take it off me when I left," he smiled.

"Hmm," she said, looking thoughtfully at it. Such a device could be very useful, but the trouble would be getting a biotic to sit still for long enough for it to be plugged in. Now, if she could somehow modify it to... she saw him looking at her with a bemused expression on his face, and put the amp down on the table. There would be time for that later. "Sorry. You know me and tech," she said. "It's like a ball of string to a cat."

"Yeah," he sighed, and took a long sip of his drink. Putting his glass down on the table, he walked past her to the window, leaning his forehead against the thick glass.

"It was hard for you, wasn't it?" she asked, easily reading his body language. "Seeing her there, with another man?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "I guess I always saw her, in my mind, as the beautiful girl with the warm eyes. And now, to see her so changed, so... sick. It makes me feel guilty, for not having been there for her."

"From what you've told me before, it sounds more like she was the one to turn away from you, because you frightened her when you killed Vyrnnus." Ellie couldn't really understand the logic. Somebody hurts you, so a friend sticks up for you and you shun him? It just didn't seem right. But then, not everybody had had the rough upbringing she had. Some people were just more sensitive. Some people needed others to protect them. That's what soldiers were for.

"I know. And I shouldn't feel bad, but I do. I guess I'm just soft or something."

"You're not soft," she smiled. "You just care. It's one of the things I like most about you. You're not afraid to feel."

Stepping forward, she pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a squeeze, before he reciprocated and did likewise, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"It's still tough, trying to get used to calling you 'commander' out there," he said quietly.

"It's tough trying to call _myself_ commander."

"El, do you ever think about what things would be like now, if you'd made different choices in the past?"

"All the time," she said, pulling out of the hug and taking a step back to look at him as she spoke. "I think everybody does."

"Remember that party we went to at Doug's place, a couple of years ago when we had shore leave during summer?"

"How could I forget?" she grinned. "Allerton challenged me to a drinking contest, then spent the rest of the night throwing up everything he'd ever ate."

"Yeah," Kaidan smiled. "Then afterwards, Jonas ordered Miyazaki to help drag Allerton back to base. You and I found one of Doug's spare rooms, and-"

"We made a mistake," she said firmly.

"Best mistake I ever made, though. And I'll admit," he sighed, "for a while, I kept hoping we'd make more mistakes."

"You know we would have been busted back to basic for that," she said gently. "We were in a good mood. We were relaxed, not having to worry about batarians dropping bombs on us. Also, we were really drunk. That's the sort of mistake that can only happen once. Any more, and it becomes career suicide."

"Something occurred to me, today," he said, taking a small step forward, closing the distance between them. "If humanity's first Spectre can get away with publicising a terrorist hijacking attempt, she can probably get away with a little career suicide."

He lifted his hand to her face, running the backs of his fingers down her cheek. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warm touch of his hand. And she _had_ to close her eyes, because it was the only way she could avoid being aware that Kaidan was the one standing in front of her now. Kaidan, who was like a brother to her, whose mother treated her like a daughter, who she had once made a really stupid, drunken mistake with. A mistake that neither of them had mentioned since that night, but that had lain dormant between them, waiting for the moment to rise up again.

"Kaidan," she said, stopping his hand with her own and removing his fingers from her cheek. "I can't..."

"Because of Dr T'Soni?" he asked.

She could have pulled her hair out in frustration! "Liara is a nice person, and I consider her a friend," she insisted. "But that is all."

"Alright, Ellie. I'll let it rest," he said. "And I'll let you rest, too. I know you've been busy writing up your reports about this, and about Noveria, for HQ. You get that pinched look around your eyes when you've been sat at your computer for too long. Try to get some sleep."

"Thanks, Kaid," she said, stepping aside so he could step past. At the door, he stopped and turned to look back at her before opening it.

"You know, I'll never forget that mistake. And I'll always be here for you, as a friend. You can count on that. But if you ever feel like making another mistake... I won't complain."

When he left, she sank down into the chair, picked up her glass of Sherry, and downed the lot. Why, oh _why_ did he have to bring that up now? Was it because seeing Rahna again had reminded him of everything that could have been? Or was he feeling jealous because he thought that Liara was interested in her? Either way, as much as she loved Kaidan, his rekindled interest was incredibly badly timed. Now she had to worry about unintentionally hurting him, as well as the rest of the crap that she had to deal with.

_Well guys,_ she thought, looking out to the stars and mentally addressing the other three members of her former unit, _I don't know where you all are now, but my life just got a hell of a lot more complicated._


	29. Favours

Deus Ex Machina

_29. Favours_

"Wrex, please come and see me," Ellie said over the Normandy's comm the next morning. She'd opted for a light breakfast today - muesli, and a couple of slices of toast - which she was eating in her office-cum-bedroom as she browsed the extranet news channels. It was the first time she'd had in days to just sit down and do absolutely nothing at all, and she was going to make the most of it.

When Wrex arrived she called him in and offered him a chair, which he declined. So, pushing aside her dish of muesli, she brought up Garrus' OSD data and reversed the console so Wrex could see the screen.

"I found Tonn Actus," she said.

"You sure it's him?" Wrex asked, bending over the desk to view the data. Mostly it comprised of eye-witness reports of Tonn Actus' personal ship in the area, along with planetary scans of a surface facility that was well guarded by private mercenaries.

"Pretty sure, yeah."

"Good work, Shepard. How'd you get this info? I've been searching for him for months."

"Oh, you know. Spectre contacts," she said evasively. She _had_ promised Garrus she wouldn't tell Wrex he was the one who'd given her the intel, after all.

"You've been a Spectre for all of two weeks and you already have contacts?" he asked appreciatively. "What are you, close personal friends with the Shadow Broker?"

"I wish," she smiled. "I'm sure he could tell me a lot of interesting things."

"So, when can we go to..." he read the name of the planet from the screen, "Tuntau?"

"We're already on our way to Argos Rho. Be there within an hour. I figured it was best for Joker to get us underway before mentioning it to you. Just in case the Alliance stopped me at the last moment with new orders. Now that we're en route, you might want to dress in your finest."

"Yeah, I'll do that. By the way, I saw Liara in the mess earlier," he said. "She was looking a bit down."

"I imagine being forced to play a part in your mother's death will have that effect on a person."

"Know what helps cheer me up when I'm feeling down? Killing turians. Maybe she could come with us to Tuntau."

"You're concerned about her? How sweet," she grinned. "We're finally seeing the softer, caring side of Urdnot Wrex."

"Bah. Shepard, I'm not concerned about her. When it comes to life and death, asari take the long-view. When you can live to be a thousand years old or more, you're gonna see a lot of people die, especially if you're hanging around short-lived species a lot. Death happens. Asari understand that, and get over it like the krogan do. It's only you shorter-lived species who spend your time moping around after dead people, wasting even more of your short lives thinking about people who're never coming back. All I'm saying is, maybe Liara would like to take her mind off blaming herself for her mother's death with a bit of a sporting turian-hunt. Besides, it's been a while since I went turian-hunting with an asari."

"You wanna go ask her if she wants to come along, then?"

"Nah. I'll let you do it, Shepard. You're better at... that thing."

"What thing?"

"That thing where you're nice to people when they're feeling low."

"Empathy?"

"Yeah, that's the one. I'll meet you both down in the cargo hold."

When Wrex left she finished her muesli and continued browsing the news channels. Reports about Eden Prime were beginning to calm down now, especially since the Seventh Fleet was temporarily stationed in orbit of the planet, to relieve the fears of colonists who thought they'd been abandoned, and to discourage opportunistic pirating by local criminal gangs. Funeral services had been held for everybody declared KIA or MIA on the planet; there was no chance of finding survivors, now, and whatever had happened to turn them into mindless husks had made identifying the victims extremely difficult. The sad fact was, the majority of the husks left behind by Ellie and her team as they had fought their way to the beacon, were relegated to being confined in stasis indefinitely whilst scientists took them apart bit by bit in an attempt to understand what had become of them. The surviving colonists of Eden Prime had to continue living with the knowledge that their paradise was not as safe as they had once thought. No doubt this was a sad and sobering time for them.

Elsewhere, the human news channels were dominated by news about protests being held by the human-first party Terra Firma, but it wasn't really anything new. They always protested around Armistice Day, hopping on their soap-boxes to spew out their garbage about how humanity was being corrupted and diluted through interactions with aliens. Ellie really couldn't understand their logic. It wasn't as if there were hundreds of aliens on Earth, preaching about their superior cultures and trying to conscript unsuspecting and naïve youths into becoming pawns of alien society. It was mostly only the people who left their home planets and colonies that interacted directly with aliens, and whilst it was true that the extranet was an area of shared cyber-space, accessible to anybody with a net-capable computer console, it was still rare to find aliens on Earth, except as tourists in some of the more famous areas. She had never even _seen_ an alien in person until she joined the military, and until she met Nihlus, her experience of them was mostly restricted to batarians and thresher maws, plus a handful of asari and salarian survivors who had been present in the batarian slave camps she'd helped to liberate.

Glancing at the time in the corner of her console screen, she realised there were only fifteen minutes until reaching Tuntau, and she left her mostly-eaten breakfast, leaving her room and heading towards the medical bay. It was empty, for once, and she continued through it into the science lab behind it. As soon as Liara had come onboard, she had appropriated the room for herself, choosing to spend most of her time within its confines, meditating alone or continuing her research into the Protheans.

As Ellie expected, she found Liara sat at the science desk, using her console to browse the extranet; research papers written by other scientists, it looked like. And Liara was so engrossed in them, that at first she didn't notice the Normandy's CO enter the room.

"I'm not disturbing you, am I?" Ellie asked.

Liara jumped, but recovered quickly. "Commander Shepard... no, of course you're not disturbing me. This is your ship, and I am but a guest. What brings you down here?"

"Well, Wrex and I are about to head out to Tuntau to bang a few heads together and recover an old krogan relic that was stolen from his homeworld after the krogan rebellions, and he... we... thought you might like to come along. You know, clear your head and see something other than the inside of this lab for a change?" she smiled.

"Thank you for considering me," Liara said politely. Her large, expressive blue eyes were harder than usual to read. "I'm sorry that I have to disappoint you, but I'm not really feeling up to the task right now. I still have a lot on my mind... a lot that I need to work through. If it is alright with you, I would like to remain here."

"Of course it is. No need to rush into anything. Take all the time you need. And just remember, I'm here if you need to talk about anything."

"Thank you, Shepard," Liara said, turning back to her console.

Ellie left her in peace, walking alone to the elevator. Once inside it she pushed the button for the engineering deck, and leant back against the side wall as it slowly descended. It was understandable that Liara felt the need for privacy at this time. She'd just lost the only parent she'd ever had. That had to be hard, even for an asari. Not for the first time, she wondered if there was any truth in what Kaidan had told her. She'd thought that Liara's shyness and nervousness stemmed from the fact that she was unused to dealing with other people, and especially unused to humans. If, however, Liara was _attracted_ to her in some way... it was going to make for an awkward future conversation with the asari.

In the armoury, she found Wrex waiting patiently near the Mako, whilst Williams and one of the ship's marines - Lewis, she thought she recalled - were carrying out maintenance on weapons nearby. She nodded at Williams and Lewis as she passed, and they both saluted her. Wrex merely watched her approach with an expression of mild amusement, and didn't even pretend he was ever going to salute.

"Shepard," he said. "I notice you're alone."

"Yeah, Liara wasn't in the mood for an away mission," she said as she walked to her locker. Opening it up, she pulled her armour out and began donning it over her uniform. Her dress-boots went into the locker, replaced by combat boots, and she picked up her helmet, carrying it under her arm.

"Shame," he rumbled as she rejoined him. "I think she would have enjoyed it."

Hoping to turn the conversation away from the subject of Liara, she opened a comm line on her omni-tool.

"Joker, what's our ETA to Tuntau?"

"Ten minutes, commander," the pilot returned.

"Right. We'll be inside the Mako. Let me know once you've run initial scans of the planet."

"What if this isn't the right place?" Wrex asked, hauling himself onto the vehicle. She followed him, opening the entrance hatch and climbing down into the Mako. "I mean, most pirates don't like to store all their eggs in one basket. Tonn Actus could have a dozen bases scattered throughout the galaxy."

"If this doesn't pan out, we'll keep trying until we find him. But I have a feeling this is real, and not just some wild goose chase. I trust my source."

"Hmph. Alright then. What's a goose, by the way?"

"Something very tasty," she smiled.

When Wrex closed the hatch, Ellie started up the Mako's engine. From the window, she saw Williams and Lewis leave the cargo bay, so it could be depressurised for an atmospheric drop. Once the engine was active, she ran a diagnostic on all the vehicle's systems, ensuring everything was in working order.

"Commander," came Pressly's voice, over the Mako's comm, "we're in orbit of Tuntau and have scanned the surface. We've detected several structures, but we can't say for sure which one is the base in question. We're going to drop you a klick north of the first structure, which is about four klicks north of the second structure."

"Roger, navigator. Vehicle clamps released and ready for drop."

One of her consoles indicated that the loading bay door was opening, and when it was opened fully she fired the engine briefly, rolling the Mako forward. It quickly rolled out of the bay and began a fast free-fall through two-hundred metres of atmosphere. The onboard computer calculated the descent speed and fired the thrusters at the right moment. The descent slowed, and the Mako touched down on the planet's surface, rocking to a halt. Ellie brought up a topographic map of the area and glanced at the green blips which indicated structures on the planet's surface. As Pressly had advised, they'd been dropped a kilometre from the first structure, and Ellie drove the Mako towards it whilst Wrex settled in at the main gun position.

"Seems quiet so far," Ellie remarked as she glanced over her lifesign scanner.

"A little _too_ quiet, if you ask me." He gave her a grin. "I've always wanted to say that."

"We're coming up on the first structure. I think I can see it out of the window. Wow…"

Wrex joined her in peering out of the window as she slowed the Mako. Directly in front of them was a pyramid-shaped building which towered to a height of several metres. Judging by how it was situated in the ground around it, Ellie suspected this was just the tip of the structure, and that the rest of it was now buried beneath thousands of years' worth of soil. She tapped the comm button on her console.

"Normandy, can you scan the structure directly ahead of us?"

"Negative, Commander," said Pressly. "Atmospheric interference is preventing detailed analysis. All we can see is that it's not a natural formation."

"Hmm. Patch Liara into this conversation, please."

She waited for a moment as the science lab's comm line was opened. When she spoke, it was obvious she was surprised about being contacted.

"Is there something I can help you with, Commander?" she asked.

"Did the Protheans ever build pyramids?"

"No, there's never been any record of them building pyramids. Obelisks, perhaps, but not pyramids."

"Oh. Okay."

"You sound disappointed."

"Just a little," Ellie admitted. She'd hoped that if this place was Prothean, it might contain artifacts inside. Artifacts which could shed some light on what had happened to her since being given visions by the Prothean beacon. "The pyramid I'm looking at seems to have been buried by earth. I can't tell how high it should be, but I get the feeling it's not a small building. Any idea about who might have built it?"

"The level of burial you're talking about would take millions of years to occur," Liara said surely. "Fifty-thousand years might sound like a long time to you and I, but in geological terms, it's nothing. Whatever civilisation built that pyramid likely predates the Protheans by far."

"Pressly, flag up this location for reporting back to the Alliance later. They can send an archaeology team to have a proper look once we're finished here. Mako out." For a couple of moments she merely sat looking at the pyramid, wondering whether it was in any way related to the great pyramids of Earth. Was it just a coincidence that these buildings had been made into the same shape? Did this pyramid serve the same function as Earth's pyramids had served to the pharaohs? "I wonder who built it, and why. Pretty impressive, isn't it?" she asked Wrex.

"It's a pile of stones, Shepard."

"Right," she sighed, remembering that she was here with the last person in the galaxy who would ever express appreciation for architecture. "Moving on, then."

She turned the Mako in the direction of the next green blip on her map, and set a steady pace as the vehicle traversed the ground. Tuntau was a planet of bare rock and soil, and though its atmosphere was unbreathable, mostly methane and helium, but the external temperature was quite pleasant. Perhaps millions of years ago the atmosphere had been oxygen-based, or maybe a species had lived here which could breathe methane. Either way, it would explain the presence of the pyramid. But what had happened to inhabitants of this world? They clearly weren't living here anymore. Had they left, travelling to a new planet? Or had they gone extinct? Or perhaps they, like the Protheans, had fallen victim to a superior force.

"Just so we're clear, Shepard," Wrex said after a few moments of silence, "this mission can only end one way. Whether or not I find my family's armour, Tonn Actus dies. I'm not letting you haul him back to the Citadel for 'justice', because there is no such thing as justice where krogans are concerned."

"I'm here to help you recover your armour," she told him, focusing on her controls. "What you do with Tonn Actus is your business, not mine."

"If that's what you need to tell yourself to keep your conscience clear," he grunted.

"So, what happened the last time you went turian-hunting with an asari?" she asked.

"What makes you think I've been turian-hunting with an asari before?"

"Before we left, you said it had been a long time since you'd hunted turians with an asari for company."

"Oh. Right. I forgot that you actually listen when I talk. I should try harder to remember that. I'm sure it'll come back to bite me in the ass someday."

"Probably."

"As for asari… I met Aleena when I was collecting a bounty on a turian. We realised we were trying to cash in the same bounty, and decided to work together and split the profit. I got the head, she got everything else."

"Nice," she said, wincing at the mental image of a dismembered turian. Why were her friends so keen on describing grisly body-parts scenarios to her? "So, you two were friends after that?"

"I don't have friends. But we weren't enemies, so I guess that's the next best thing. We ran into each other again some years later… I'd been hired by a volus to take care of somebody from his past who 'knew too much'. When I realised it was Aleena, I tracked her down, and we had a good laugh about it."

"So you didn't make good on the contract?"

"A contract is a contract, Shepard," he said, pointedly, "and I always make good on contracts. But out of respect for Aleena, I let her pick the place where we'd fight. She chose an abandoned salarian space station that was simply crawling with mercs and pirates… because she 'didn't want any innocents to get hurt'." He gave a snort of amusement, but his words were tinged with fondness and respect. "She was such a soft touch."

"You killed her, then?"

"I tried. I chased her through that space station for days, and when I ran out of ammo I had to kill a bunch of mercs and use their crappy weapons. After a few days, everybody else on the station had run away or been killed, and I had Aleena trapped in a med-bay where she'd gone to lick her wounds. Unfortunately, we'd done quite a lot of damage to the station during out hunt, and just before I could storm the med-bay, I heard the computer say that the station's power-core was about to go critical."

"What did you do?"

"Got the hell out of there. I couldn't see any way for Aleena to escape; she was injured, locked in a clinic, and far away from where her ship was docked. As far as I was concerned, she was as good as dead. I returned to my ship, and narrowly avoided the blast wave. Then, as I was leaving the system, I got a message. Simply said 'better luck next time'. She's got more lives than a varren, that woman. Reminds me a bit of you, Shepard."

Ellie smiled. "Do you think she's still out there somewhere?"

"I'm sure of it."

"How'd your employer take the news that you couldn't fulfil your contract?"

"He took it alright, once I explained that he was going to need the best protection money could buy to stop a pissed-off asari from coming after him. I guarded that volus until the day he died… easiest money I ever made."

Before Ellie could respond, several red blips appeared on her scanner. "Wait a minute," she said, slowing the vehicle's speed, "I'm picking up life-signs. Doubt they're native."

"Just tell me where to shoot," he said, not sounding the least bit excited. Of course, Ellie knew better; Wrex liked to wrap himself in a gruff but cool façade, but he was just as capable of feeling emotions as everyone else.

"I'm bringing us into weapons range of the structure now." She glanced at the read-out on her scanner. "It appears to be a large bunker. Much newer than the pyramid."

"My family armour's there," Wrex said. "I can feel it."

"I hope you're right." Something zipped past the Mako, and one of the warning sirens began to sound. "Shit," Ellie swore. "Snipers. You're gonna have to take them out before they can drain our shield strength."

"I'm on it," said Wrex.

The problem with vehicle combat - or at least, _one_ of the problems with vehicle combat - was that it was impossible to stop and get a steady shot whilst out in the open, and because the Mako was so large, there was little chance of finding cover. Ellie was forced to drive around, randomly changing speed and direction, whilst Wrex took shots at the snipers in their towers with the Mako's main gun. It wasn't a fast or efficient way of overcoming an opponent, nor was it easy, because snipers made for small targets and the Mako's gun became less accurate the further away you were from your target, but eventually their superior fire-power won out. Once all the red blips on her scanner had disappeared, Ellie halted the Mako outside the bunker door and donned her helmet.

"They're going to be expecting us," she warned, as they both climbed out of the vehicle and jumped to the ground. "Even if they didn't hear all the commotion we've made from inside the bunker, the snipers will almost certainly have signalled ahead to warn anyone else of our presence."

"Good." He patted his assault rifle. She couldn't see his face, as it was hidden behind his helmet, but she got the impression he was smiling. "Makes it more sporting."

When they reached the door she tapped the entry button, but nothing happened. When it failed to respond to a second tap, she activated her omni-tool, and started to create a work-around. Wrex waited patiently, his eyes scanning the area, probably hoping for any sign of life.

"Do you enjoy killing?" she asked.

"Not so much anymore. I suppose I'm getting old, and once you reach my age, you see a hell of a lot of killing. It's mostly just something I do for money."

"But you're willing to kill Tonn Actus?"

"That's not killing. It's justice. Like I told you before, even if you can find a court to convict him for what he's done, his punishment will be no more severe than a slap on the wrists."

"How do you differentiate between justice and revenge?"

"I don't. Actus will be getting what he deserves, which is both justice and revenge in equal measures. How can anybody else dictate to you what justice is? How can anyone other than the victim themself know how much pain has been caused by the crime? If someone hurt you, would you be satisfied with someone else meting out 'justice'? Or would you want to ensure for yourself that justice was done?"

"I suppose that's something of a problem. You see, my people believe that the victim can't be the one to judge and sentence a criminal, because they would be biased."

"And I'd say that the victim is the _best_ person to pass judgement and sentence, because they _are_ biased. Lemme ask you this, Shepard. If somebody killed a person you loved, would you be happy letting some impartial stranger impose 'justice' on the criminal? How could an impartial stranger ever understand what you're going through? How can any punishment they impose possibly make up for your pain and loss?"

She couldn't respond to that. In her life so far, she had loved only one person, and lost him as well. But his death could not be blamed on anybody. His death had been a tragic accident, an attack by thresher maws. In the absence of an external party to blame, she had blamed herself.

"Regardless of how I feel," she said, "I am a soldier. I obey the law. To do otherwise would mean to throw away everything that I am. Justice may not always be fair, but it's how my society works."

"Lucky you have such a short life-span, because after three or four hundred years, I bet you'd be fed up with your style of justice."

Before she could answer, her omni-tool beeped, indicating the door access control had been overridden. She lowered her omni-tool but kept it active, in case she'd have need of it again soon. Drawing her pistol from its halter, she nodded to Wrex, and pressed the door entry button. It slid silently open this time, and the krogan battlemaster stepped into the bunker.

Ellie called up a scanner on her omni-tool, but quickly discovered it pointless; a damping field had been set up, interfering with her scanner. For all she knew, there could have been twenty men in the bunker, or just two. Of course, the prospect of twenty men wouldn't stop Wrex, but she had to plan for every eventuality, and that included ambush. Glancing at the wall, she saw a junction box, responsible for power distribution, and a plan started to form in her mind.

"How's your night-vision?" she asked.

"Even better than my day-vision. Why?"

"Just thought I'd even the odds a little." She approached the junction box and opened the casing, exposing the circuitry inside. Unlike the door control, this called for no finesse. She took a few steps back, lifted her pistol, and fired it once into the box. The thing exploded in a shower of sparks, and the lights in the bunker winked out, plunging everything into darkness. There was a cessation of some background noise, and she realised that her action had shorted out of life-support system. In only a couple of hours, the bunker's air supply would run out, and everybody here would suffocate. Luckily, she and Wrex had their breather helmets.

When she glanced down at her omni-tool again, she found the scanner working. Whatever dampening field had been in place had obviously been connected to the main power supply. An amateur mistake; anybody serious about stopping scans would have a portable jammer with its own power source. Perhaps Tonn Actus thought nobody would be foolish or desperate enough to come this far, but his carelessness had given her the edge she needed.

The bunker was fairly straightforward, consisting of only a couple of corridors which opened out into a large storage room. Her helmet compensated for the darkness by activating the night-vision technology across her visor, and she was able to make out the shapes of shipping crates in the room. Her scanner showed her that half a dozen men were positioned at various points around the room and on the balcony above, most of them taking cover behind crates, but she had no way of telling which one was Tonn Actus. Her combat scanner could not distinguish between life-forms, so she had no idea if these privateers were all turians, or whether there were other species with them. Not that it mattered; pirates and thieves were pirates and thieves regardless of their race.

She caught Wrex's attention and gestured for him to go around one side of the room, whilst she flanked the privateers from the other side. He nodded, and a biotic barrier sprang up around him as he moved off, remarkably quiet for his large size. Ellie waited only until he had disappeared before setting off herself. She bent her knees, keeping her body low but her gun raised high as she took shelter behind a crate. None of the red dots on her scanner were moving, which meant Wrex was probably in position.

Taking one of the tech mines she'd modified from her belt, she activated it with a five second delay, then threw it into the centre of the room. As it rolled to a half she turned her head and closed her eyes, hearing it explode. There were cries of alarm from the room as several of the people who'd been looking towards the source of the noise were temporarily blinded by a flash of bright light. On cue, Wrex stood up from his hiding place and began firing his rifle, and Ellie leant around her own crate to select a target, firing her pistol several times. From then on, there was chaos. Ellie ducked back behind her crate every time somebody fired at her, but the mercenaries weren't stupid. They turned their guns on Wrex and kept their distance from him, whilst one of them, a tall turian, closed with her, to keep her from firing her weapon or activating any of her omni-tool's programs.

Hand to hand combat had never been her strong point; her strength had not been enhanced to the same degree as most marines, because she wasn't supposed to be a standard soldier. And though she'd had martial arts training, she wasn't used to fighting aliens. She quickly found herself being pushed backwards, into a dead-end of stacked-up crates.

A biotic field materialised in front of her, sweeping her foe away with a force strong enough to send him flying into the wall of the bunker. He crumpled to the ground, and before he could get up, Ellie shot him several times. When she glanced at Wrex, she saw him finishing off one last opponent - another turian - and then it was over. The room was quiet, littered with bodies, but there were only two red dots on her scanner.

"Thanks for the save," she said, breathing heavily after the exertion of combat.

"Just evening the odds a little," he replied. Then he gestured around at the corpses. "Not sure which one's Actus. Let's pretend it was this guy." He nudged his fallen opponent with his foot.

"Fine by me. So... any idea which of these crates your armour's in?"

"Not a clue. Maybe we should look for a label that says 'Urdnot family armour stolen from Tuchanka following krogan rebellions'."

"No need to be facetious." She looked around, at the room full of crates, and sighed. "This isn't going to be easy. And now I wish I hadn't taken out the lights."

"C'mon, Shepard. That armour isn't going to find itself, you know."

So they started searching, one crate at a time, painstakingly checking the entire contents of each individual container. It quickly became apparent that Tonn Actus had been quite a collector, and not just of krogan artifacts. Whilst the majority of the items were indeed krogan, there were also asari stone tablets, and a handful of other items from turian, elcor, and other worlds. How the hell was she supposed to return all of this stuff to its owners?

"Hey, I've found it," said Wrex.

Ellie stood up and put the lid on her own crate before making her way over to Wrex. She found him sitting amongst a pile of half-empty crates, random artifacts strewn around the floor. In his hands he held something that looked like a grey stone-coloured krogan had shed its skin and left it behind.

"That's armour?"

"Hey, show some respect. This thing is over a thousand years old." He turned it over in his hands, examining it critically from all angles. "I can't believe it's still in one piece. And look, here on the chest you an still see the faint outline of Clan Urdnot's symbol."

She smiled at the fond expression on his face. It almost seemed as if he was a proud parent, holding up his newborn - or newhatched - child for the first time.

"This armour's really important to you, isn't it?" she asked.

"What, this old piece of crap? It's useless. Couldn't even sell it and make a profit. I mean, look at it. It's falling to pieces. One gentle breeze and it'll be dust."

"Then why the hell did we just spend half a day on this planet trying to recover it?"

"Because of what its return will mean to my clan, and the authority it'll give me once I get back home. Don't you see, Shepard? It wouldn't matter if it was a suit of armour or the lucky clan rock. It's not _what_ it is that makes it important, but _what it stands for_. And you, I think, would do well to remember that."

"Me?" she asked, confused by the comparison.

"Yeah. I've heard the speech more than once." He put on a falsetto voice. "'I'm an Alliance soldier. I do things by the book. I follow the rules and make others follow them too'."

"I do **not** sound like that!"

"Uh-huh. Sure." He gave her an over-the-top wink. "Anyway, my point is, sometimes what something stands for is more important than what something is. Think about it, Shepard. Even if you weren't an Alliance soldier, you'd still be doing the things you do, fighting the good fight, trying to stop the Reapers. The things you stand for belong to you and you alone; not to your precious Alliance military. Otherwise, how could you be your own person? How could you be a Spectre?"

In many ways, what Wrex said echoed what Nihlus had told her in one of her dreams. Perhaps both men were right; perhaps she would still be the same person, even if she hadn't joined the military, or been made a Spectre. But then again, maybe she'd still be living a life of crime in the gang, nothing more than a criminal, caring for nothing other than the next challenge, and the next big score.

Wrex stood up, the Urdnot armour tucked beneath his arm. "We're not gonna stay here all day, are we?"

"No," she agreed. "Let's get out of here."

They left the building in silence and returned to the Mako, where Ellie signalled the Normandy for a pick-up and asked Pressly to relay their co-ordinates back to HQ, so that the Alliance could inventory everything in Tonn Actus' bunker and then return them to their respective peoples. When the ship finally descended into the atmosphere, she drove the vehicle up the loading ramp and parked it in its usual place, activating the wheel clamps to make it secure.

Williams and Lewis reappeared once the cargo bay had been repressurised and helped Ellie and Wrex out of the Mako.

"Successful mission, Skipper?" Ashley asked.

"See for yourself." She gestured at Wrex, who was hauling his family's armour behind him.

"One recovered family heirloom and a group of dead thieves," Wrex said happily. "Time to get me a nice big meal... all that fighting has worked up quite an appetite. You coming too, Shepard?"

"No, I'm not hungry yet," she said. "And besides, I've got some stuff to do. You know, reports to make and all that."

"Hmph. If you ask me, you spend too much time making reports. You should have someone to do that for you. A Spectre shouldn't have to handle the little stuff."

Wrex left with his armour, and Ellie allowed Ash to help her out of her own combat armour, then made her way back to her cabin. Wrex was right about many things, but there were some things he just didn't understand. She had to be the one to make the reports, because it was her responsibility, and she didn't feel as if she could trust anyone else to do it. Perhaps that was just part of being a Spectre. Perhaps, in some ways, she would always have to do certain things alone. That, she suspected, was what separated Spectres from other people. It helped her gain a little more understanding about the things Nihlus had told her.

o - o - o - o - o

Ellie re-checked her pistol as the Normandy's deconamination field passed over her body. It was a force of habit more than anything else; whenever you go into an unfamiliar situation which might prove hostile, ensure your weapon is in working order. It had been one of the first rules of basic training, and she adhered to it religiously. Unlike a biotic, she could not function without a weapon. All she had was her omni-tool, which whilst admittedly great for hacking, jamming and overloading, was absolutely rubbish for going on the offensive. In a small way, she had always envied Kaidan, mind-splitting migraines notwithstanding. Kaidan didn't _need_ a weapon; he _was_ a weapon. His training and skills made him special in a way that she would never be, and it had surprised her at first to learn that he, and many other biotics, did not see their 'gifts' in the same way that she did. They saw them as an affliction, as a burden to be carried, as something that could potentially cause them to burn out.

Seeing the state of Kaidan's old friends, during their kidnap attempt, had really driven it home to her. Not all biotics were cared for and valued as much as Kaidan was. Many of them struggled to get even the most basic of amenities. She just hoped that with the public extranet vids, and Chairman Burns' support, conditions would start changing for all biotics, and that they would become a more accepted part of society.

"Thanks again for doing this, commander," Garrus said. He was standing beside her in the Normandy's airlock, waiting as the picture of patience for the door to open. It hadn't been hard to find the Fedele, the ship which had been registered to one Dr R. Heart. For some reason, the ship had not responded to their communications, forcing Joker to carry out a forced docking procedure. It had been no problem for the skilled pilot, but the Fedele's lack of response was a little puzzling. Apparently Garrus thought so too, for he had come armed with his assault rifle.

"No need to thank me," she said. "If this guy really is Dr Saleon, then I have a duty to investigate any crimes he may have committed. Besides, you really came through with the whole Wrex thing. I owe you this much, at least."

"I'm really hoping Saleon resists arrest." He patted his weapon meaningfully.

"My primary concern is taking care of any patients aboard that ship," she told him. He looked almost as if he was going to argue, so she quickly continued. "Look. That ship is not going _anywhere_ with the Normandy attached to it. There's no possible way for Saleon to escape this time. We have him, so there's no need to get all..."

"Obsessive?" he finished for her. He shook his head and sighed. "I'm sorry if I've given you that impression. It's just... I suppose this has been my Akuze. Not that I'm comparing my investigation of Saleon to your traumatic battle for survival against thresher maws, but it's been constantly on my mind for years."

"I understand," she said. "He thwarted you, and he thwarted justice. He's the one that got away, making you and C-Sec in general appear ineffective."

"It's not just that. I mean, at first, it was. But after a while, I started thinking about all those patients he'd managed to take with him. I let them down, Shepard. If I'd been faster, they would have lived. That's on me, and I don't like it."

She didn't try and tell him not to blame himself; she knew it would be pointless. She still blamed herself for Akuze, even though she knew she was suffering from survivor's guilt. Garrus would have to work past his guilt in his own time, and if bringing Dr Saleon to justice could help him that little bit faster, it was the least she could do.

"Decontamination complete," the computer said. "Opening outer door."

The Normandy's door opened, but the Fedele's door did not. Ellie had suspected this might happen, but it wasn't a problem. She removed the cover over the emergency door lever, and pulled it down, releasing the seal on the door. There was no need for breather helmets this time, because the Normandy's sensor had detected normal atmosphere aboard the ship, and as the Fedele's door opened, air rushed into her nose, bringing with it an unpleasant scent.

"What is that?" she asked, waving her hand in front of her nose to try and waft the smell away.

"A biological preservative with a long and easily forgettable name," Garrus replied. "Doctors use it for storing organs for transport. We found vats of the stuff in Saleon's lab on the Citadel. After he harvested the organs from his victims, he often sent them by courier to his contacts on various different worlds. It was a huge black market ring, but I never found any of his contacts. I'm hoping I can change that now."

Ellie stepped forward into the Fedele, and glanced around. It was the same class of ship as the Ontario, so she knew where the bridge was located, and where the various store-rooms would be. So far all was quiet, with no indication of why the Fedele hadn't responded to the Normandy's hails. She just hoped that there hadn't been some sort of contaminant or disease which had killed all hands onboard.

"I went by to see Liara before we arrived in this system," Garrus said. He was following Ellie closely, his weapon held ready for use, his eyes scanning his surroundings.

"How was she?"

"Coping much better than I would be in her situation." He shook his head, as if dismissing his own thoughts. "I think she just needs time. It's not been easy for her. She's lived mostly alone, doing research, for the last fifty years. Now she's having to deal with all sorts of stuff. I think she needs a friend."

"A friend? Okay... I nominate you. It's your new mission."

"I'm happy to talk to Liara, but I get the feeling I'm not the one she wants to be talking to."

"Maybe I should get Wrex to talk to her," she mused. "They're both biotics... I'm sure they have lots in common."

"Or, you know, _you_ could talk to her," he suggested, sounding amused.

She tried not to cringe. "I fully intend to. Soon. Really soon. I just... I feel a bit uncomfortable around her," she admitted.

"Why?"

"Well... Kaidan told me that Liara... likes me."

"That's ridiculous," he scoffed.

"You think so?" Kaidan was usually quite accurate with his observations.

"Yeah. I'd say it's more of an infatuation than a simple case of 'liking'."

Ellie groaned. This was the last thing she needed right now! Liara was undoubtedly upset and confused about everything that had happened to her recently, and Ellie was _rubbish_ at dealing with unrequited feelings. It was one of the reasons she had been avoiding Kaidan for the past twenty-four hours. She knew that if he got wind of this Saleon thing he'd want to come along, and as much as he loved her friend - as a friend - he could be a little over-protective at times.

"What should I do?" she asked.

Garrus shrugged. "Ask her out?"

"But I don't want to go out with her!"

"Why not? Don't you think she's attractive?"

"Sure, I guess she's attractive," she said, not sure whether Garrus was teasing her or asking genuinely. "But she's not my type."

"Too blue?"

"Lacking the correct... equipment."

"I'm sure you can teach her to use an omni-tool."

"Garrus," she warned. He held up a hand in apology. "I don't want to hurt Liara's feelings, especially after everything that's happened to her. I think for now, I'll just avoid her as much as possible. That way I won't have to deal with any uncomfortable situations."

"Is that why you're avoiding Lieutenant Alenko?" He gave a snort of amusement when she subjected him to her best quizzical stare. "Why do people keep forgetting that I was a _very_ good investigator, back in C-Sec? Nothing gets by me, Shepard. Except, you know, unethical salarian doctors. But I won't fall for that one twice. Look, can I offer you a piece of advice?"

"Sure." After all, his advice couldn't be any worse than her own plan of avoiding Liara.

"Dr T'Soni has been through a lot, and she's not used to dealing with people. I mean, I made five or six really obvious jokes right in front of her, and she didn't laugh at _any_ of them. She can't tell when Joker's being serious, and she doesn't recognise when Williams is teasing her. The short of it is, you're going to have to be honest with her. Right now, she probably doesn't have a clue about whether you're just being friendly, or flirting with her. You've gotta stop this thing before it goes any further, or you'll only let her get emotionally involved, and then end up hurting her."

"I guess you're right," she sighed. "It's just... I'm terrible at this sort of thing."

"You'll gladly rush head-first into combat against the geth, or venture into a mine to disarm a tactical nuclear warhead that could vaporise you in seconds, but you're afraid to talk to an asari who fancies you?"

"Combat is easy. Feelings are much more difficult." She stopped walking as she passed a door to one of the cargo-holds and heard movement from within. Activating her omni-tool, she scanned the room behind the door, and discovered five life-forms inside. One was close to the door, whilst two were standing together at one side of the hold and another two were walking around. "Dr Saleon and his patients, perhaps?" she asked.

"Maybe. I guess there's only one way to find out."

She pushed the door access button, and it slid open. Before Ellie could even react, something lunged at her, and she saw the cold flash of something metal pass close to her face. When the body impacted her, she was knocked backwards, and her gun flew from her right hand. Her left hand came up to catch the arm of her attacker as he brought the knife down towards her throat, and she found herself looking up into a face that was grey and inhuman, despite the fact that whoever this was, clearly _was_ human. The whites of his eyes were red and bloodshot, his teeth were missing or rotting away, and he growled at her like some sort of feral animal.

Garrus kicked her attacker across the torso, sending him spinning away from her, and Ellie pushed herself to her feet, reaching out for her gun. She grabbed it and turned as the man charged again, and shot him twice in the chest at near point-blank range. Her reprieve, however, was short lived. The other four people in the room made a run for the door, and none of them looked sane. There was one salarian, a turian, and another two humans, all dressed in medical gowns, their eyes all glassy and vacant. The salarian was bleeding from a wound on his head, whilst one human man was limping.

Ellie, who was admittedly a big fan of twentieth-century pop-culture, could only liken them to the mindless zombies of countless horror films. They offered no words as they surged forwards, the salarian and the humans wielding scalpals and the turian's claws already red with blood. She fired her pistol several times in self defence, whilst Garrus opened fire with his rifle. The four unarmoured men stood no chance, and they were cut down by bullets. Once the last body had stopped twitching, Ellie stepped forward into the room, looking around in horror at the half-destroyed medical equipment and upturned beds.

"Christ. What the hell happened here?"

"It looks like Saleon's test subjects escaped," Garrus said. He bent down to examine the dead turian.

"Escaped... or were let out."

"Poor bastards. At least they're not suffering anymore."

"Does this look like Saleon's handiwork?" she asked. From what Garrus had told her, she'd been expecting normal-looking people with a few extra organs. Not pseudo-zombies with primitive weapons.

"I've never seen this level of mutilation before," he said quietly. "It looks like he's descended even further into unethical madness. We _have_ to stop him, Shepard. I won't let anyone else be hurt by him."

"We'll stop him," she assured her friend. "Something tells me we'll find him on the bridge. Come on."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I've got a bullet for that man, with his name on it."

"Garrus," she said, planting a hand on the chest of his armour to stop him leaving the room, "we're not here to kill Saleon. We're going to take him into custody so he can answer for his crimes."

"That's how he got away the first time, Shepard. I wasn't ruthless enough. We can't give him the opportunity to escape again."

"And we won't. But we're here for justice. Not for revenge."

"Oh. So when Wrex asks for your help, it's perfectly fine to kill thieves. When I ask for your help, we have to treat murderers with respect. Doesn't that seem like something of a double-standard to you?"

"It's different," she replied, trying to make him see sense. "For Wrex, it was personal. The man in question was dealing in stolen goods, and profiting from the misery of others. Saleon didn't steal _your_ organs. He's committed crimes that he _will_ be punished for. The families of the people he has killed deserve that much."

"However you want to dress it up, Shepard, it's still a double-standard," he said angrily. "If Saleon goes free, he will do far worse things than Tonn Actus ever did. Why won't you let me do what needs to be done?"

"Because you're better than that!" she snapped. Her patience was wearing thin. In the Alliance military, you didn't question the orders of your superior officers. "Wrex doesn't care about justice, but you do. Or at least, you did. And I think you still care. Killing Saleon now would not be justice... it would be convenience. I want to see him punished just as much as you do, but he is the only one who can tell us exactly what he's done, and exactly who he's done it to. The families of these dead men deserve to know how they died, but without Saleon, I doubt we'll even be able to find out who they are."

"I... suppose... we have a duty to find out exactly what Saleon's been up to," he relented. But he didn't sound happy about it.

"He won't go unpunished," she said. "I promise."

Garrus nodded, at last satisfied with her answer. She left the cargo-hold and returned to the corridor, stepping over the body of the first dead man. Her knowledge of the ship design proved useful, and she led the way to the small bridge. It was empty, but there were two doors leading off from it into small meeting rooms. The first one was empty, but in the second they found a salarian cowering behind a table. He, unlike the other salarian, looked quite healthy. As soon as he saw them, he heaved a sigh of relief, and stood up.

"I don't know who you are, but thank you for saving me from those... those... things!" he said. "I've been trapped in here for over a day!"

"Doctor Saleon, I take it?" Ellie asked, holstering her pistol. There was no need for it now. Besides, Garrus still had his rifle pointed firmly at the salarian.

"No, my name is Doctor Heart," the alien replied. He blinked, his lower lids rising up to meet his upper lids. Ellie knew it was an action that creeped Ash out, but it was simply how the salarians blinked.

"Well, Doctor Heart," she said, "perhaps you could tell me exactly what 'those things' were, and how they got onto your ship."

"Of course, of course. You see, I've been conducting scientific research, trying to cure a deadly plague. Those poor people were my patients, undergoing experimental treatment."

"Isn't it a little unconventional, to treat people on a transport ship, rather than in a hospital?"

"A little," Doctor Heart admitted. "But the plague is _very_ infectious. I didn't want to risk it entering a planet's atmosphere."

"He's lying," Garrus growled, his eyes narrowing at the salarian. "He's Saleon. I recognise him."

Ellie had no doubt that Garrus was telling the truth; he wasn't the type to make mistakes like that, and she knew how important it was for him to apprehend the criminal. But at the same time, she didn't want Saleon to know she was onto him; if he thought she believed his version of events, he would be easier to handle.

"That may be so," she told Garrus. "But he and you and I have been exposed to this 'highly infectious' plague. I'm afraid we'll have to all be quarantined aboard the Normandy. When we get back to the Citadel, I'm sure the doctors there would be _very_ interested in hearing about Doctor Heart's work from the man himself."

Garrus grumbled under his breath. "You're lucky, Saleon. The Commander here just saved your life."

"Oh, how _very_ kind of you," the salarian said sarcastically. "But I'm not going back to the Citadel!"

Saleon lifted his hand, displaying a pistol which was pointed at Ellie. Before she even had time to react, Garrus fired several rounds into Saleon's chest, and the salarian toppled to the floor.

"Why did you do that?" she demanded.

"He had a gun aimed at you," Garrus pointed out.

"I'm wearing armour."

"You know as well as I do that kinetic barriers only cover the parts of your body which are armoured. A single bullet to the head could have killed you."

"And what happened to taking him alive for questioning and justice?"

Garrus shrugged, and put away his weapon. "He obviously wasn't going to come quietly. Despite what you might think, Shepard, I didn't kill him out of revenge or anger. Where I come from, it's considered bad form to let your commanding officer get killed. Heaps of shame and all that."

She walked over to Saleon's body and examined it, purely so she wouldn't have to answer to Garrus. As angry as she was that he'd killed Saleon, she had to admit that he'd probably saved her life. Because she wasn't used to doctors carrying weapons and shooting people, she'd let her guard down. It was a stupid mistake, but she suspected that it wouldn't have mattered even if she _had_ been holding her gun at the time. Saleon had made it very clear that he wasn't going back to the Citadel. She suspected he'd known what would happen if he aimed his gun at her. It was just a shame it had been necessary to kill him.

Garrus, who had moved to a computer console and was currently examining it, gave a vexed hiss, and turned to face her.

"He wiped the computer's memory before he died. Purged everything except the operating system. Now I'll never find out who his victims were, and who he was collaborating with."

"I'll get Tali to come over and have a look," she offered. "If anything can be salvaged from the memory, Tali can do it."

"Thanks, Shepard." He looked down at the unmoving body of Doctor Saleon. "You know, for the past few years I've been dreaming of putting an end to Saleon and his twisted experiments. But now that it's finally over..."

"You feel unsatisfied?" she asked.

He nodded. "A quick death was more than he deserved. It was more than his victims got. You were right. He should have been made to answer for his crimes in a court of justice. The whole galaxy should have been made to see what a monster he was. I understand, now, why you want to bring Saren in alive."

Despite the horror she had witnessed on the butcher's ship, she smiled. "I'm glad you understand. I could definitely use the help of a wise-cracking sharp-shooting former C-Sec officer."

"In that case, I'm your man. On one condition."

"And that is?"

"I'm not doing your dirty work for you. I'll listen to Liara if she wants to talk, but you have to decide how you're going to handle it, and then do so. And I have no idea why you're avoiding Alenko, but you're completely on your own there. Agreed?"

"Agreed," she said. She was going to have to deal with Liara sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner. Like Garrus said, the woman deserved some honesty. And now that the business with Benezia was over, there was no reason for Liara to stay onboard the Normandy. Perhaps she would decide to leave, and resume her work on the Protheans. Maybe she could even lend her knowledge to the team working on the Beacon, to see if she could shed any light on it.

"Let's go," she said. "I think it's time to ask Tali if she'll come over here and work her magic on this computer. And I need to figure out how to gently let down an asari who's nearly five times my age."


	30. Wrongs Darker than Night

Deus Ex Machina

_30. Wrongs Darker than Night_

The cockpit of the Normandy was always a quiet place to be. Joker rarely spoke once he'd finished making a joke or two, and the light from the computer consoles was oddly comforting. Ellie found that it was a good place to come and think, and particularly to come and think and not be disturbed by anyone. It also helped that from here she had a good view of the planet they were orbiting, and she watched it with a sort of casual intensity, wishing she knew what was happening down there.

"Do you think I made the right decision?" she asked.

"Commander, I didn't become a pilot so I could make decisions more complicated than whether to strafe left or right the next time someone fires a mass effect cannon at us."

"I'm not asking for your professional opinion. I want your personal opinion. And don't try and tell me you don't _have_ a personal opinion, because I don't know _anyone_ more opinionated than you, Joker."

"Well, since you asked..." He made a small correction on his flight computer, and turned his chair around a little to face her. "You know as well as I do that you can't head up _every single mission_ yourself. Even Spectres can burn out from exhaustion. Plus, if you didn't think Lieutenant Alenko was ready to command a ground team, you wouldn't have sent him. Right?"

"Right," she agreed. "He's definitely ready."

"But..?"

She sighed. Despite having only known Joker for three weeks, he knew her too well already. He was surprisingly good at picking up on the little things.

"I don't like being left behind. Sitting around and doing nothing whilst others are putting themselves in danger... it's not me."

"Well, if it helps, I doubt Wrex considers the mission dangerous. He's probably having a great time. Hopefully he'll remember that he's there to _rescue_ that asari ambassador's sister, and not kill her. And you know Williams grabs any chance she can to drive the Mako. They'll be fine, Commander."

"I guess this must have been how Anderson felt, sending us down to Eden Prime. He probably wanted more than anything to join us, and find out what was happening."

"It's the burden of command," Joker said with a dismissive shrug. "The higher up the ranks you go, the less you're actually allowed to do. 'Admiral' is synonymous with 'desk job'. Just be glad they didn't make you captain of the Normandy in rank, too."

"Yeah. I guess that's something to be thankful for."

Joker returned to his normal position. As always he was wearing his Alliance cap, which made his uniform look a little more casual than it was supposed to. A few days ago, Ellie had asked him why he always wore it, and he claimed that it was his lucky hat. He hadn't taken it off since graduating flight school, except to sleep and shower. And if a cap was all it took to keep him happy, she wasn't going to tell him to ditch it, regardless of how informal it looked.

"How are you doing?" she asked, genuinely interested in his welfare.

"Well, I'm not in need of an intervention, if that's why you're asking."

"I'm not. We've just seen a lot of crazy stuff over the past couple of weeks, and I want to know how my pilot's handling it all."

"With a smile and a joke, Commander," he said. "You know me."

"Not as well as I'd like to."

He rolled his eyes. "Tell you what, why don't we have dinner tonight? I'll bring the wine, you bring the candles. We can talk about our childhoods; you can tell me what it was like growing up as a criminal, and I'll tell you about all my broken bones. Afterwards we can go dancing, and see where the evening leads."

"Your sarcasm won't work on me, Joker," she said, standing and stretching. "If you don't wanna talk, that's fine. But mark my words; sooner or later you're going to have to let somebody close."

"Uh-huh. Sure. Because I'm just _miserable_ in my solitude," he said dryly.

"I'll catch you later. I have a doctor to see."

She left Joker to stew in his own acerbic juices, and passed through the CIC. Pressly seemed to have everything running smoothly, so she went straight to the med-bay without stopping to ask for a status report. Inside the medical room, Dr Chakwas was standing over one of the bodies from the Fedele. A white mask was covering her nose and mouth, and the front of her surgical gown was spattered with red and blue liquid. Ellie tried to ignore it; she wasn't great with blood.

The doctor's blue eyes came up when Ellie approached, and she pulled the mask down from her mouth.

"Have you made any progress?" Ellie asked her.

"Too much," Chakwas said. It was then that Ellie saw the harrowing look in her eyes. "As you suspected, these aren't plague victims. In fact, I'm not finding any sign of disease in their bodies."

"Then why do they look like the living dead? Former living dead, anyway."

"It looks like Dr Saleon had been using these five for experiments for years. The bodies show signs of massive internal trauma. One of the humans as three spleens growing inside him, and the turian has an extra pancreas and a third lung. When organs didn't develop properly, they were left inside or crudely removed. Simply put, their own bodies were poisoning them. Blood supplies have been re-routed to accommodate new organs, and dying organs are responsible for severe necrosis and sepsis."

"Any idea why they attacked us on sight?"

"Most likely they'd been driven insane by everything they've gone through. There's only so much that a mind can handle, Commander, even a strong mind. I don't know whether Saleon was purposely putting them through mental torture, or whether it was a byproduct caused by inhumane living conditions and a lack of anaesthetic when he carried out his procedures. I doubt any of these men would have been capable of recognising friend or foe, by the time you reached them."

She looked down at the face of the dead human, ignoring the gaping chest cavity as best she could. This man had been somebody's son. Possibly somebody's brother, or husband, or father. Regardless of what he had been in life, he hadn't deserved this. Nobody deserved to be tortured for years as a medical test subject.

"I don't know how anybody who would do this could call themselves a doctor," said Chakwas. "A butcher, more like. I know you feel that the mission was a failure, but you've stopped that man from hurting anybody else, and put these poor souls out of their long misery. I only wish we could have gotten here sooner."

Ellie nodded. There was simply nothing else to say. When Garrus had told her that he'd asked the Citadel Defence forces to open fire on Saleon's ship, she'd condemned him for being callous and uncaring. She'd thought that by claiming the victims were as good as dead already, he was absolving himself of guilt and trying to convince others that stopping Saleon at any cost was more important than the lives of his victims. Now she suspected that Garrus had been right all along. If the Defence forces had listened to him years ago, these poor individuals would have been spared years of needless suffering.

To distract herself from falling into an even grimmer mood, she glanced up at the door to the science lab. "Is Liara in?" she asked.

"Where else would she be?"

"How's she doing?"

"Hard to say," Chakwas said with a thoughtful frown. "She sleeps, she eats, she says hello whenever I see her. I'm not sure how much is Liara, and how much is auto-pilot."

"I suppose it's past time I talked with her," she sighed.

"Good luck, Commander." Chakwas reached out and squeezed her arm. "I'm going to go and have a long hot shower. After doing these autopsies, I feel like I'll never be clean again."

Once Chakwas had removed her gown, gloves and mask, and left in the direction of the bathrooms, Ellie approached the science lab door, and pressed the chime. A couple of seconds later the door slid open to reveal Liara sitting at a work-station, studying what appeared to be a stone tablet.

Ellie stepped into the room and joined Liara at the table, leaning back against the wall because she hated sitting when she felt nervous. Nerves gave her restless legs. "What have you got there?" she asked.

Liara did not take her gaze from the stone tablet. "One of the artifacts from Tuntau."

"And you got your hands on it... how?"

"Wrex brought it for me," the asari admitted. "He thought it might be Prothean. Said that studying it might... 'cheer me up'. I think his hearts were in the right place."

"Hmm." That _almost_ sounded like a joke. "And is it Prothean?"

"Yes and no," Liara said, finally looking up at Ellie with her wide blue eyes. "It's a hanar replica of Prothean text, describing how the 'Enkindlers' first came to Kahje. An interesting read, but nothing ground-breaking."

"Do you miss working in Prothean dig-sites?" she asked, hoping to broach the subject of Liara's presence without sounding like she wanted to be rid of the woman.

"I do," Liara sighed. "But at the same time, I know that what you are doing here is far more important than ruins. When you find the Conduit, you may need somebody who can translate the Prothean language for you. Don't worry, Shepard, I'm not going anywhere. I plan to be by your side until Saren is defeated."

"Good to hear," she said, with a weak smile. It wasn't the response she had been hoping for, but she didn't want to make the asari feel unwelcome.

Suddenly, Liara's eyes widened a little, as some realisation dawned on her. "Oh, I'm sorry, Commander. I shouldn't have been so... tactless. I mean, here I was, expecting you to be glad that I'm staying, and I completely forgot that you must be so worried about the ground team."

"Ah," she said, thoroughly confused by how the conversation was going. "Yes. Of course I'm worried. I don't like waiting around like this."

Liara stood up and took the tablet to a cabinet set into the wall. She deposited the artifact and closed the cabinet door, but didn't turn around. "It must be especially difficult for you, with Lieutenant Alenko leading the mission. Tali'Zorah told me that the two of you are... close."

"You speak with Tali?" she asked, surprised by the revelation.

"Yes, we have a lot in common," Liara admitted. "We've both spent time alone, away from our people, struggling in a universe we barely understand. She's a remarkable young woman. I was surprised by how strong and intelligent she is. And honourable, too. Like most people, I'd always believed the quarians to be little more than thieves. Tali'Zorah has changed my opinion about them, just as you have changed my opinion about humans."

"I have?"

"When I heard of your people, I thought they would all be angry, violent and war-mongering. I had little interest in getting to know any of your people better. But having been aboard your ship, I know that my initial assessment was not true. Doctor Chakwas has treated me with nothing but kindness and understanding. She is a credit to this ship. And you yourself have shown trust and belief in me, even when you had no reason to do so. If it wasn't for you, I'd still be in that stasis field, on Therum." She walked towards Ellie, and stopped in front of her. "I owe you my life, Shepard."

She gave the asari a pat on the arm, and stepped around her, eager to put a little more distance between them. "How are the crew treating you?" she asked, desperate to change the subject. There was no telling what a grateful asari might offer to do.

"They are polite," Liara said. "They say hello when they see me, ask if I'm 'doing okay', generally try to avoid me. I don't know what makes them most uncomfortable; that I am not human, or that they don't know what to say to me about my mother's death. And then I look at how they react around Garrus, or Tali, and I suspect it's more to do with my mother than the fact that I'm not human."

"Death is an awkward topic for most humans," Ellie admitted. "We're all too aware of our own mortality."

"For what it's worth," Liara said, with a small smile, "I get the feeling you're going to live a long and happy life, and that when it's your time to go, you'll be surrounded by friends and family. And I hope that I can be there for you, as you have been here for me."

"Well, I don't have any family, but I do like the idea of having my friends with me when I shuffle out of the moral coil." This was, perhaps, the most bizarre conversation she'd had in a long time.

"Perhaps in the future, you will make your own family," Liara suggested. Then, a little _too_ innocently, she added, "Sometimes, I feel a little envious when I see you and Lieutenant Alenko together. You seem to have such a close relationship. I only wish I could find somebody to feel as comfortable around, as the two of you feel around each other."

"Kaidan is one of my oldest and dearest friends," Ellie said. She sensed an opportunity to let Liara down gently, and leapt for it. "But that's all we can ever be. That's all I can ever be with anybody. You see, I'm not just in the military to pass the time and learn new skills. I'm here for life. I live a soldier, and will die a soldier. And as much as I think love and companionship are great things, I just don't have room for them in my life."

"Sometimes, it's not a matter of choosing love. It's a matter of love choosing you." Liara gave her a small smile. "How do you stop yourself from loving someone, Shepard?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe you can't. But I like to think that I'd be strong enough to not let it affect me. That I'd keep on going as a soldier."

"You speak of love as if it's a disease, or an affliction to be avoided lest it weaken you."

Liara was right; that _was_ how she saw it, because that had been her experience of it. She had loved Miguel more than anything in the world, and when he had died, it had crushed her. Afterwards, she'd felt so alone, so frail, like her heart had been ripped out of her chest, leaving only an empty hole behind. A hole which she had never been able to fill, and she knew she never would. She didn't even _want_ to fill it, because that would simply be a betrayal of the memory of her closest friend and lover.

"To be honest," she said, knowing that she sounded blunt but unable to bandy words any longer, "a few years ago I lost somebody I loved very much. Since then I've had no interest in love, and the last thing I want to do is find someone to replace him. Maybe that makes me weak, or foolish, or cold... I don't know. But it's just how I feel. I don't want to lose somebody that I love. I'd rather put someone off the ship permanently than let that happen again. I need to be focused entirely on the mission. I don't want any distractions."

"Very well, Shepard," Liara said, bowing her head. "I'm sorry if my words have angered you. I meant nothing by them."

"Commander?" Joker said over the comm. "I've got Admiral Hackett on the line for you. He'd like to talk in private."

Ellie looked at Liara for a moment. She knew she'd been too hard on the woman, too heavy-handed, but what could she do, apologise and ask for forgiveness? She'd _wanted_ to let Liara down, and it seemed subtlety and niceness just wasn't working. With any luck, Liara wouldn't become any more emotionally invested in her than she already was.

"Put it through to my cabin, Joker," Ellie said. "I'll take it in a moment. Liara, please excuse me. I have to get back to work."

"Of course, Commander."

Feeling a little bad about her treatment of Liara but unwilling to do anything about it, she left the science lab and returned to the captain's quarters. Once there she opened her comm link. His call was so well-timed that she could almost think that Joker had faked it, just to get her out of an increasingly uncomfortable situation.

"Commander Shepard," Hackett said, putting paid to her Joker theory. "I've finished reading your report about Noveria. That was some good work you did there."

"Thank you, sir," she said.

"I'm telling you this because not many people will. As humanity's first Spectre, your every action will be criticised. People will always expect you to do better. People will always think there's more you could do. Most of them don't know what it's like to make the tough decisions."

"I don't think the Council agree with your assessment of my mission. Nor does Ambassador Udina," she pointed out.

"Udina is a diplomat. He makes decisions from behind his desk, and the consequences of his decisions rarely affect him directly. Don't get me wrong, I'm not thrilled that the rachni are back, and I may not have done the same thing in your place, but you did what you thought was best. You saved a great many people, and stopped mindless rachni workers from escaping the Binary Helix labs. Now, the company has a lot of explaining to do."

"I appreciate your honesty, sir," she said, taking a seat at her desk.

"You've dealt Saren a blow - no doubt Benezia's death will make him think twice about crossing paths with you again. But next time, he'll be expecting you. You can't rest on your laurels. What's your next move?"

"Well, Captain Anderson's leads have paid off so far. I'm going to check out the colony on Feros. If the geth have struck there, they might have left a trail for me to follow."

"Good. I'd like you to keep me apprised of your progress. But before you head over to Feros, I have a mission for you."

"I'm listening."

"Several ex-Alliance scientists have been found dead, and I'd like you to investigate. Somebody's been executing them, and we'd like to know know why."

"Isn't this a matter for internal security?" she asked. She was hardly a detective, after all.

"Possibly. But I thought the matter might be of personal interest to you."

"Sir?" she asked, even more confused. She rarely interacted with scientists, unless you counted the few she'd met on Arcturus.

"These scientists all worked on Akuze, during the early days of the colonisation project. They all quit their jobs about six months before the thresher maw attack."

_That_ got her interest. Everyone on the Akuze project had been killed by the threshers; scientists, colonists, marines... nobody had been spared. Nobody except for her. If these scientists had somehow managed to escape that fate, she had to look into that. Admiral Kahoku, she knew, was still looking into what had happened to his men on Edolus, still looking for reasons. Perhaps these scientists could help.

"How many of the group are left, Admiral?" she asked.

"Just one. Dr Wayne, a xenobiologist. Intel puts him in the Newton system, doing research for a private firm, on the planet Ontarom. I'd like you to take him into protective custody until we can figure out who's killed off all his former colleagues."

"Yes sir, I'll see to it as soon as my ground team gets back from their current assignment."

"Good. I know you'll do your best. Once you have Dr Wayne, I'd like you to hand him over to Rear Admiral Mikhailovich. The admiral will rendezvous with you at the Citadel. I look forward to hearing your report. Hackett out."

When Hackett was gone, she opened the comm to the bridge and the cockpit. "Pressly, Joker, as soon as the ground team are ready for pickup, I want to get them onboard. The brass are sending us to the Newton system. Urgent mission."

"No problem, Commander," Joker replied. "You'll see the fastest pickup on record."

"I'll ask the maintenance team to check over the Mako as soon as it's aboard, Commander," Pressly added.

"Thanks."

She closed the comm line and took a deep breath. Life was a funny old thing. Just when she thought she'd gotten over Akuze, Edolus had come along, and shown her that she wasn't as over her trauma as she'd thought. And as she was slowly putting Edolus behind her, she now had Newton. Some things, she was coming to realise, just never left you. They stayed with you forever, as a thorn in your side or a constant reminder of the biggest mistake you'd ever made. For Kaidan, that thorn was BAaT, and the day he had lashed out in anger and killed a cruel teacher, losing the respect of the girl he loved. For Garrus it was Doctor Saleon, and the knowledge that no amount of vengeance or justice could ever bring back the helpless victims. For Liara, it was the loss of a mother she had barely spoken to for fifty years, and would never get a chance to reconcile her differences with.

Suddenly, she understood. Yes, a Spectre had to be alone, but a Spectre wasn't all that she was. She was also a soldier. She was human. And she knew how to be there for somebody who needed a friend.

She left her cabin and strode down the corridor. When she reached the mess hall, the door opened at her approach, but voices stopped her from walking into the room. Instead, she peered around the door, at the four people sitting at one of the tables. They were as physically different as four people could ever be. Half of them couldn't even eat the same food as the others without going into anaphylactic shock. But despite their differences, they were united.

"The thing I remember most," Tali was saying, from behind her purple mask; her prison, "was the sound of her voice. Just hearing her speak drove all of my worries away. I always felt so safe when she was around. I think my father did, too. It wasn't the same after she died, but in time, it brought us closer."

"My brother was just twenty-five when he was killed in the line of duty," Chakwas said. She reached out a hand to gently squeeze Liara's arm. "There's not a day goes by when I don't think about him, and wonder what he'd be doing now if he was still alive. Would he have a family? Kids? Would they be living on Earth? Would I get to see them as often as I'd like? I know it's little consolation, but your mother lived a long and full life."

"Death is an unfortunate but necessary part of life," Garrus added. "When I was young, I had a Palavan Bubble-head Fish. I'd had that thing even longer than I'd had my second set of teeth. Then one day I came downstairs and found him floating upside down in his tank. It really shook me, you know? To have something that had been a constant in my life just suddenly cease to be... I never got another fish after that."

"I never had any family," Ellie said, and they all looked up at her. "But I had someone I cared for. He died on Akuze, and a part of me died with him. But I think that's the way it should be. I think it should hurt forever. Otherwise, what's the point in caring at all?"

"Pull up a chair, Commander," Dr Chakwas said, gesturing to an empty seat.

"Thanks," she said, with a grateful smile. "I'd love to."

o - o - o - o - o

Joker was true to his word. As soon as the ground team signalled they were ready to return to the ship, he performed what was probably the fastest atmospheric entry and planetary landing that a ship had ever done. As soon as the cargo bay was repressurised, Ellie stepped inside, and saw the ground team clambering out of the Mako.

"How did the mission go?" she asked.

"We killed her," Wrex said.

"What? You were supposed to _rescue_ Nassana's sister, not kill her!" How the hell was she going to explain this to the ambassador?

"Relax, Ellie," Kaidan said. "I mean, ah, Commander."

"Miss Blue was the leader of those mercenaries," Williams added, jumping down from the Mako and brushing a spot of dirt from her armour. "She wasn't kidnapped by them, she was blackmailing her sister for credits. LT downloaded the evidence to his omni-tool, just in case you ever want leverage."

"Ashley, you can't refer to an asari as 'Miss Blue'," Ellie said, trying very hard not to sigh with despair.

The chief shrugged. "Alright. Sorry. I'll try to be more sensitive or whatever."

At that moment, Ellie noticed a cut on Kaidan's head, and frowned at him. "What happened?" she demanded.

Oh... nothing much." He gave her a sheepish smile. "Got rushed by a krogan. Had to biotic-lift him off me."

"The kid did good," said Wrex, giving Kaidan a hearty slap across the shoulder which made him stagger forwards.

"Hey Skipper," said Williams, "are we leaving the planet already?"

"Yeah, we've got another mission. Williams, Wrex, you can get changed," she said. "Kaidan, you're with me."

He gave his weapons to Ashley and followed Ellie out of the cargo hold. "Where are we going?"

"The med-bay. I want Chakwas to check out that head injury," she said.

He gave a groan. "You're not freaking out, are you?"

"Freaking out? About what?"

He stopped walking, forcing her to stop too. "Because I came back with an injury on my first mission in command."

"Of course I'm not freaking out," she said. "You're doing much better than I am. On my first command, two men died. On my second away-mission, I almost caused a mountain to collapse on our heads. Third mission nearly got eaten by a thresher maw. Fourth mission _did_ cause a mountain to collapse on our heads. Fifth mission nearly got ripped to shreds by rachni, lost a very important suspect, released a former galactic menace, and sunk a laboratory into a glacier." Not that she was keeping a tally or anything.

"Ahh," he said. "So it's not the sort of freak-out where you realise I've come back injured and blame yourself for not being there, it's the freak-out where you realise I've had a slightly more successful first mission than you did and now you're worried that every time you go on a mission, it's going to end badly and you'll feel like you have nobody but yourself to blame for it."

She smiled. He knew her so well. And there was a time when his assessment would have been right, when she would have gone to pieces - albeit silently and self-destructively - over her fears. But somehow, somewhere, at some point, she'd found a little perspective, and a little maturity. She wasn't entirely sure of the moment when it had happened, but she'd narrowed it down to either the instant she'd had to make her first real decision as a Spectre, when she was standing outside the rachni tank, or during her last talk with dead-Nihlus, or whoever the hell he really was. She'd realised something, recently; she could not save everyone. But she could try her hardest to. And if that was to be the epitaph carved into her tombstone, then she was pleased with it.

"I'm not freaking out," she reiterated.

"Have you been drinking?" he asked suspiciously.

"I wish. But I've just come to realise that there's only so much I can worry about events which are out of my control. One person can't support a mountain. Doctor Chakwas taught me that." She gave him a playful punch on the arm. "Speaking of the devil, we need to get her to check your head."

"Ellie," he said, and the hesitation in his voice got her full attention. "I'm sorry if I sort of... came on too strong. The other night, I mean. After the Burns mission. It's just that seeing Rana again made me think about everything that might have been. That, in turn, made me think about us. I know we only ever had that one night, but a part of me - a big part of me - regrets that I don't remember as much as I'd like to. But I also know that if we hadn't been so drunk, we never would have done it."

She leant back against the corridor bulkhead, and crossed her arms over her chest. This was a conversation that she'd hoped to avoid for the rest of her life. Kaidan was the closest thing she had to family. He was like a brother to her. His mother treated Ellie as she would treat a daughter whenever they went back to Earth for R&R. He'd seen her looking at her best and her worst, and always had the courtesy to glance away whenever they'd had to undress in communal changing rooms. After their drunken shenanigans, they'd wordlessly agreed to not speak of it, or tell the rest of the unit, in case it made things awkward. And it never had, until now.

"It was nice," she admitted. "Having you there, being close to you, feeling like I wasn't alone, even if it was only for a few hours."

"Yeah," he smiled. "It was. And I know it can never happen again. Not only is it against Alliance regs, but you're a Spectre now. You have the whole galaxy watching you, and I know that you want to set a good example, and give people absolutely no ammo to use against you. But if things were different, if one of us, or both of us, wasn't in the military, and if you weren't a Spectre... do you think we might have something more? Maybe a chance at the sorts of things other people get to have?"

She looked at her best friend, and gave his question serious consideration. Kaidan was everything she liked in a person. He was loyal, brave and intelligent. He was always there for a friend in need no matter the cost to himself. He was calm and level-headed, rarely gave into his anger, and was never prejudiced; partially because of everything he'd been through growing up as a biotic, and partially because it just wasn't in his nature. He was, she imagined, the sort of guy any girl would happily take home to meet her parents. Not only did he have an amazing personality, but he was also attractive. She'd seen more than one girl fall for his soft brown eyes and well-toned body. She knew that if things were different, she could be very happy with Kaidan, but she didn't want to give him false hope. She didn't want him to continue believing that one day, things might change. Sure, it would be great if they did, but that didn't mean they would. No man should have to be content with 'maybe one day'.

"I don't know," she said. "Perhaps in ideal circumstances, we'd have just as good a chance as anyone. But these aren't ideal circumstances, and I doubt they ever will be. Some people could leave the military and be happy. Me, I think I'd always be looking to the stars, waiting for adventure. The thought of settling down somewhere and doing the whole 'normal family life' thing... I just can't see it. Maybe because I've never had that normalcy, or a real family. Maybe because I'm a hopeless lifer who'll always seek thrills and never be satisfied with anything other than a blaze of glory. I just... I don't know, Kaidan."

"I guess that's the difference between us. When I look to the stars, I see the frontier colony where I'll one day build my house. I see the land with the fence around it, and the cows, or whatever passes for cows there, roaming the pastures. I see the day when I'll be able to hang up my rifle and only bring it down once a year to clean it, or to tell my kids stories about it. I guess that sorta dream, that sorta piece and quiet, sounds like hell to you, doesn't it?"

"A little bit. Though I don't know why you have the farmland dream. You were born and raised in a city. I doubt you could tell the difference between a cow and a duck."

"Oh, as if you'd do any better, Miss 'I didn't even see the sky until I was seventeen'."

And, just like that, things were back to normal, or as normal as they'd ever get. Ellie continued walking along the corridor, and Kaidan followed obediently. She knew that he would always have feelings for her, and she would always love him without question, but their time to be more than friends had come and gone. It was in the past, and forever in the past it would stay.

"So what's the new mission?" Kaidan asked.

"Several Alliance scientists have turned up dead," she said, purposely leaving out any mention of Akuze. It would only worry him unnecessarily. "Hackett wants me to take the last remaining scientist into protective custody, and drop him off at the Citadel."

"Really?" He gave her a puzzled look. "That doesn't really sound like a mission for a Spectre, or for the Normandy."

"Orders are orders," she shrugged.

"I guess so. Do you need someone at the cannon controls?"

"Thanks, but I promised Liara she could come on this one. I sorta owe her. Plus Garrus already called shotgun. Now report to the medical bay and get Dr Chakwas to give your head a check-over."

"Aye, Commander." He gave her a salute and a smile, and marched off to the sickbay, ever the obedient soldier. He was a good man. Until today, she'd always thought that, like her, he was a lifer. That he had considered settling down to start a family, and had even thought about where his house might be, had come as a surprise. He'd never mentioned anything like this before. But then, he'd never been away from his unit before, alone in the vastness of space and isolated from his best friend by the chain of command. And even though it would mean losing an excellent soldier and a best friend, she hoped that some day, Kaidan would get the life of freedom he dreamed about when he looked at the stars. For everything he had been through, he deserved it.

o - o - o - o - o

The inside of the Mako was small and cramped, but a dislike of enclosed spaces was not something Liara shared with Tali'Zorah. One did not have the luxury of being afraid of their environment, when they were an archaeologist. You had to go where the trail led, regardless of adverse conditions. She had once spent four years alone on a remote planet, inside a single bunker unit that was powered by an aging generator. Whenever she'd had to leave the bunker to work in the Prothean ruins, she'd needed to wear a fully enclosed environmental suit, to protect her from the toxic atmosphere. The inside of the Earth vehicle was, by comparison, a luxury, made even more bearable by the fact that she knew she wouldn't be in it for more than a few hours. That was practically the blink of an eye, in asari terms.

The atmosphere inside the Mako was quiet but tense. Garrus, at the cannon controls, was monitoring his console, keeping an eye on sensor data. Of all the aliens aboard the Normandy, he had been the most easily accepted by the crew. Partially it was because the Turian Hierarchy had helped to build the ship, and it made the humans feel more at ease, knowing there was a turian onboard in case something went wrong. Not that there was anything Garrus could do which they couldn't; indeed, Liara had seen Garrus' attempts at engineering, and they weren't anything special.

But mostly, they accepted him because he fit in quite easily. He'd worked around humans a lot since joining C-Sec, and knew about some of their habits and customs. He knew how to talk to them, what to say to them to make them laugh, and, in turn, when to laugh at the jokes they told. Jokes were one of the things Liara was struggling most with. It was so difficult to discern when somebody was telling a joke or being serious. And human humour was the strangest of all humours - they could tell jokes without even smiling. They twisted their words to mean the opposite of what they really said. Half of understanding the humour was understanding the intended target, and the vocal tone and inflection on certain words. It was, in short, a work in progress.

She tried not to look at Shepard too much. Their new friendship was still very fragile, and Liara knew she had already almost ruined it once by presuming too much. It was a mistake she would not repeat, but at the time, she had been simply overwhelmed by her feelings. Shepard had saved her from the geth, refused to hand her over to the Council, stuck up for her when there was no need, and offered many kind words. What Liara had not understood was that Shepard would do the same for any of her friends - she would fight just as hard for Wrex or Liara as she would for Kaidan.

Now that she better understood the commander, she felt a little less awkward around her. She'd always heard that Spectres had an air of confidence and danger about them, but she hadn't met one before now. Having met Shepard, she'd realised that what people said was right. Nobody else on the ship - apart from Wrex, who seemed to be an exception to the rule - moved with the same sort of quiet confidence as Shepard. Nobody else seemed as sure of themselves. Nobody else ever seemed as fearless as the commander.

"Why do you think people might be killing these scientists?" Garrus asked, interrupting Liara's train of thought.

"I don't know," Shepard replied. And even in her uncertainty, she sounded sure of herself. "I can only think of two reasons why somebody might kill a bunch of scientists. Either somebody is taking exception to whatever they're doing, or a rival individual or group is jealous that they might make a breakthrough."

"What do you think Dr Wayne is doing on this planet?" Liara asked her. She wasn't sure how much information - intel, she thought it was called - the commander had been given by her superiors before being sent here.

"I've been told that he's doing research for a private firm," Shepard said, her hands expertly controlling the vehicle as she talked. "And that he's a geneticist, or a xenobiologist... or something. My guess is he's doing what everyone on Ontarom is doing; trying to collect as much data as possible before the moon crashes into the planet and ruins it all."

"And you really think this may be related to what happened to you on Akuze?" Garrus asked.

Shepard shrugged. "That's what I'm here to find out. Two klicks to target."

As the vehicle ploughed unerringly towards the building that Dr Wayne was using as his base, Liara drew her pistol and checked it over, ensuring it was fully powered and ready for use. It was a weapon she'd owned for the last fifty years, but she'd rarely had need to fire it. Her true weapons were her biotic abilities, though she was loathe to use them on living beings, except when absolutely necessary. The gun brought back painful memories of her mother; it was Benezia who had given her the weapon, right before she'd left home for her first archaeological dig. _You can never be too careful, little wing,_ Benezia had said. _Don't rely too much on one thing, because if it's ever taken away, you will struggle to continue._

What in the name of the goddess had Saren _done_ to her, to make her so... so cold, and evil? How had he broken the mind and the will of a powerful asari matriarch? There was no species in the galaxy which could rival an asari's mental abilities. Not only were the majority of them strong biotics, but most had great mental fortitude, honed by centuries of experience and contemplation. Most asari matriarchs knew themselves so thoroughly that little could affect them. Certainly, turians had no way of mentally controlling others. Was what her mother had said true? Was Saren's power truly in his terrible new ship? Was this 'Sovereign' the reason that he was able to control not only an asari matriarch, but the geth too?

Having been once inside Shepard's mind, Liara knew what the commander was thinking; that Saren's vessel was a Reaper, one of the sentient machines responsible for the demise of the Protheans. But how could that be? Where had it come from, and why was it working with Saren and the geth? It was a difficult thing to believe, yet what else could explain Benezia's behaviour? If this ship, this Sovereign, was somehow capable of controlling others... then what chance did someone like Liara have? She did not possess her mother's mental strength, or Shepard's courage, or Wrex's proficiency with weapons. All Liara possessed was her knowledge of the Protheans, and even _that_ was much less than she had once originally thought.

"Shepard, I'm picking up life-signs outside the laboratory," said Garrus. Liara watched as Shepard brought up her own scanner display, and glanced at the few points indicated on her console.

"Alright," Shepard said. "They might be native life-forms, or they might be hostiles. I'd rather not take any chances, so I'm going to bring us in slowly and we can try hailing on the approach. Let's see what happens."

Shepard slowed the speed of the Mako, and Liara took a deep breath. Combat still made her feel nervous and excited, and she tried to settle herself. Neither Shepard nor Garrus were showing any sort of nervousness, and they were _much_ younger than her. Of course, they were also far more used to fighting. Perhaps one day, she would be able to face hostility with their level of calmness, but for now it was a challenge to keep herself from reaching for her innate biotic abilities, even though she knew they would be of no use inside the vehicle.

Once the Mako was within communication distance of the lab, Shepard opened up a channel.

"Doctor Wayne, this is Commander Eloise Shepard with the Alliance Military. I am approaching your base, repeat, approaching your base. Please deactivate any automated defences you may have in operation. We have reason to believe your life may be in danger, and have come to render assistance. Please acknowledge."

A siren screamed in warning as something passed the Mako, and Shepard swore aloud.

"We're under attack. Liara, for god's sake, return fire. Garrus, that cannon isn't going to aim itself."

Liara jumped at the mention of her name, and quickly activated the main gun control panel. Shepard had given her an hour's training on the use of the vehicle's weapons systems, but she didn't feel confident about using them. Of course, she could hardly tell Shepard that. The commander had put a lot of faith in her, and the last thing Liara wanted to do was let her down. Everybody on the Normandy was capable of taking care of themselves in a combat situation, and Liara was determined to keep up with the rest of the crew. She would _not_ be a burden, or a maiden to be rescued from every small danger that arose.

She fired the gun at one of the targets, and saw it wink out of existence. The smile that played across her lips was tempered by guilt; how easy it was, closed off from the world in this vehicle, to forget that she hadn't truly made a light disappear - she had just killed a person. Somebody had just died because of her. That they were firing at her did not ease her conscience. She had always thought herself above unnecessary violence.

Shepard did her best to pilot the vehicle, turning sharply, ducking and weaving around objects to shield the Mako from enemy fire, but it was impossible to avoid all of the incoming shots. By the time the last light had winked out from the scanner display, two parts of the shield were close to failing. The commander stopped the vehicle beside the door of the building where Dr Wayne was carrying out his research.

"All contacts neutralised," Garrus confirmed, switching off the Mako's scanner. _All people dead,_ was what Liara heard. "It wasn't the welcome I was expecting."

"Either Dr Wayne is far more paranoid than I was led to believe, or we've arrived too late," said Shepard. "Liara… that was some good shooting back there. Well done."

Liara smiled at the compliment, even though she knew she had merely performed adequately. She appreciated the fact that Shepard was at least trying to make her feel a part of the team. It was nice to feel welcome.

"Before we enter Dr Wayne's lab," the Commander continued, "I'd just like to give you both the opportunity to wait here in the Mako. This is an Alliance mission, but neither of you are Alliance soldiers, and this isn't your problem."

"Just as Dr Saleon wasn't _your_ problem, Shepard?" Garrus asked pointedly.

"I intend to accompany you, Commander," Liara spoke up, echoing the turian. "If this Dr Wayne is in need, then I want to help, regardless of where the 'mission' has come from."

"Alright," Shepard said. "Thank you. Both of you. Let's get going then."

Because Ontarom was a habitable planet - the decaying orbit of its moon notwithstanding - there was no need for breathing apparatus, which Liara was glad for. Her breathing always sounded too heavy to her own ears, and she was sure that the others picked up on it whenever she spoke over the communications system. At least this way her anxiety was her own, when it wasn't displayed on her face.

The air was only a little too warm for comfort at mid-latitudes, and Liara waited patiently as Shepard pressed the intercom buzzer on the outer door. There was no response, so the Commander drew her pistol and pressed the entry button. When the door slid open, she glanced around to ensure there was nobody else waiting in ambush, then stepped into the building.

The air immediately cooled, and Liara felt her pupils widen to accommodate the lower light levels. The room she found herself in appeared to be some sort of entrance hall, with two doors leading off from it. Inside her chest, she felt her heart racing, and concentrated on taking deep breaths. Once more she was being shown up by her peers; neither of her two companions seemed frightened. How long did it take, she wondered, to achieve that level of detachment? How many times did your life have to be at risk before you stopped worrying about injury and death? How many people did you have to kill, before pulling the trigger of your weapon stopped being a moral decision and merely transformed into getting the job done? Sometimes she thought that even a thousand years wouldn't be long enough to change her.

"Liara," Shepard said, her eyes still scanning the room as if she expected to encounter resistance right then and there, "stay close and be ready with your biotics. Garrus, watch our six."

"Which way is 'six' again?" he asked.

"Behind us."

"Right."

Liara could only obey as Shepard moved cautiously forwards, towards one of the doors. Behind her Garrus followed, his weapon held ready for use, his attention seemingly everywhere at once. Turians were very good at that, and Liara was glad he was on their side. When they entered what appeared to be a room full of stored biological specimens, the Commander moved forwards whilst Garrus hung back. Unsure of what to do, Liara followed Shepard.

"You don't need to follow _that_ close," the woman said. "If someone shoots at me, you want to be far enough away that you won't get hit in the cross-fire."

"I'm sorry, Shepard," Liara replied guiltily. "I'm still quite new at this whole 'fighting with others on your side' situation. I'll try to do better in future."

"Don't worry about it. This room looks clear, either way. Let's see what's behind door number two."

"What happens if they've taken Dr Wayne away from the planet?" she asked Shepard. What would the woman's superiors do if it turned out that Dr Wayne was already gone?

"They haven't taken him," Shepard said confidently.

"How do you know?"

"The guards outside," Garrus spoke up. "If this was a simple assassination, they wouldn't still be here."

"Oh."

It seemed so obvious when she was hand-walked through it. So logical, and sensible. But she would never have made the connection had it not been pointed out to her. It made her feel a little foolish; she prided herself on being a rational person who could easily spot things others missed. That was one of the attributes which made her such a good archaeologist. Her attention to detail was keen. Clearly she had much to learn about everything else that life had to offer.

She followed Shepard - at a discreet distance - back into the lab's entrance, and then through the second door. The room behind it proved to be a living area, consisting of an open-plan kitchen and dining room, though there was only a single chair at the small table. It made her feel a small measure of kinship with Dr Wayne. She too knew what it was like to work for extended periods alone, with only her own mind for company and her work to keep her occupied. Some archaeologists surrounded themselves with science teams, enjoying the companionship of their contemporaries. To Liara, other archaeologists were at best a distraction and at worst a hindrance. To make matters worse, asari scientists sometimes looked down upon her own work because of her youth, and she'd always felt too awkward, too clumsy, to work with other races, such as the hyperactive salarians, or the often single-minded turians.

Now, of course, all that was changing, though not by choice or design. She had been thrust into the situation by fate or the Goddess, and now she had to do what she could to get along with others, to do her part for the greater good. If the Reapers truly did wipe out the Protheans, she could not allow a little personal discomfort to cause the species in her own time to suffer the same fate. When men and woman millennia from now read history books about Liara T'Soni, they would not find her wanting.

She watched as Sheppard approached a bowl of food that had been abandoned on the table. The Commander removed her glove and held her hand over the bowl of the human food named 'porridge', and Liara wondered what in the name of the Goddess the woman was doing.

"Still slightly warm," Shepard explained, as if hearing her mental query. "Whatever interrupted Dr Wayne's breakfast did so not too long before we arrived."

"Shepard," said Garrus, from his position near another door, "I can hear voices in the next room."

"You sure?"

"Turians have excellent hearing. Two voices... men. Both human, I think. One of them sounds angry, the other is pleading."

"Good hearing indeed," Liara heard Shepard murmur quietly. Then, more loudly, "This may be a hostage situation. Keep your weapons ready but lowered. We don't want to provoke a firefight... we must save Dr Wayne at all costs."

Liara nodded, feeling her heart pounding once more. Goddess, this life was going to be the death of her! Why, oh why had she ever offered to come along? If she ever survived this madness she was going to return to Thessia and take up a teaching position at the University of Archaeological Sciences. She would become a well-respected member of society, and never, ever leave her homeworld again. All she had to do first was stop an insane Spectre and his army of murderous AIs from bringing about the return of the species responsible for wiping out the entire Prothean civilisation. It was almost enough to cause a laugh to escape her lips, but she managed to hold it back. Probably for the best; this was no time for laughter, no matter how insane the situation seemed.

Shepard took the lead - 'point', Liara thought it was called - and opened the door from which Garrus had heard voices. Heeding Shepard's previous words, Liara followed but not too closely. Her pistol was back in its holster, now. If the situation deteriorated - or 'went sideways', as she had heard Chief Williams say - it wouldn't be her weapon that she reached for, but her biotic abilities.

As Garrus had predicated there were two men inside the room. One, the eldest, was wearing a white lab coat that had been soiled with age, and the look on his face spoke of sheer terror. The second man was dressed in combat armour, and his weapon was pointing directly at the older man. The pistol in the hand of the younger man shook, though with fear or rage, Liara could not guess. No doubt Shepard would have her own insights about it; she was probably putting her exceptional observational powers to use to learn as much about this situation as she could before acting.

As Shepard's team stepped into the room, the man with the gun heard them approach, and turned his head to look at them. His weapon remained pointed at the doctor, and Liara searched the man's angry, scarred face for some indication of why he was doing this. What could drive a man to seek out and murder harmless scientists? What sort of madness was he suffering?

"That's close enough," the man snarled, his weapon shaking even more violently now. It was a wonder he hadn't accidentally pulled the trigger.

Shepard stopped walking, and Liara was surprised to see her face looking pale, almost white. The Commander's blue eyes were wide, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing, and Liara got the impression that she and Garrus had now ceased to exist for the Normandy's CO.

"Toombs?" Shepard asked, sounding as if she doubted her own question.

"Shepard," the man with the gun replied, his voice hard and angry. "I wondered if I'd be seeing you again."

"Toombs?" Shepard reiterated. "But... it can't be. You died on Akuze."

"You sure?" the man, Toombs, replied. "This sure doesn't look like heaven to me, though what I've been through these past few years could be described as hell."

"Please help me..." the doctor - Wayne, Liara suspected - spoke up in a quavering voice.

"Shut it, you," Toombs replied, scowling at the elder man once more. His weapons stopped shaking quite as much, his hand becoming steadier, as if Shepard's presence had given him some new strength, some new purpose.

"Toombs," Shepard said. She seemed to have gained control of herself now. Her face had colour in it once more, and her voice was low, pitched to be soothing. "I don't know what's going on, but I want to help you."

"Help me?" Toombs replied, a barked laugh following his words. "You can't help me, Shepard. Not now, not then. I was the anomaly. There was only supposed to be one Hero of Akuze."

"This man is deeply disturbed," Dr Wayne said, trying to edge away from Toombs, towards where Garrus was standing. Before he could move by more than a few inches, Toombs fired his gun at the floor, narrowly missing the doctor's feet. The old man's skin went as pale as Shepard's had.

"Tell me what happened, Toombs," Shepard said. Her gun was still in her hand, but she showed no signs of wanting to use it. Perhaps she wasn't even capable of using it on this man she had once known. If it came down to it, Liara realised she might have to use her biotics to protect Wayne from Toombs... judging by the way the conversation was going, Shepard might not, and Liara couldn't be sure how Garrus would respond either. "I thought I was the only one who survived Akuze."

"You were just the one who got found," Toombs replied. It was then Liara saw the tiredness and desperation in his eyes, etched into every line of his face. This was a man who had suffered. "You're lucky. If they'd gotten to you first, maybe you would have taken my place, and I would have been a Hero."

"Who are 'they'?" Shepard asked.

Toombs gestured at Dr Wayne with his gun, and the doctor shrank back a little. "Tell the Hero of Akuze who you are."

"I'm just a scientist-" Wayne began, but was interrupted by an angry Toombs.

"Lies! Even now you're too cowardly to admit the truth." Toombs turned back to Shepard. "Doctor Wayne and the others work for a group called Cerberus. It was they who masterminded the thresher attack at Akuze. Wanted to see how soldiers like us would cope when faced with multiple thresher maws. Wayne and four others were working for the military at the time, pretending to be helping set up the colony on Akuze. In reality they were raising threshers in a secret compound, and had been for several years. After the attack, they told Cerberus where to find me. I was injured, but had managed to find high ground, solid rock that the threshers couldn't get through. Cerberus operatives swooped in and took me away. I thought I'd been saved, but then they took me to their lab." The pistol in his hand started shaking again, far more violently as the memories of what he had been through were recalled to Toombs' mind. "You have no idea what they did to me, Shepard. They cut me and poked me, injected me with thresher venom, made me relive it all over again."

"I am so sorry, Toombs," Shepard said. She was pale again, and looked rather ill. "I thought I was the only one left. I was inside a cave... I kept asking on the comm if anybody else was out there, but nobody replied. By the time the rescue team found me, I was unconscious and almost dead. If I'd known that you had survived, I would have told them to go back for you."

"It's not your fault, Shepard," said Toombs. The weapon was steady once more in his hand. "We can make it right. Together we can make them pay for what they did to our unit, and to those colonists."

"You killed the other scientists?" Shepard asked him.

"Damn right I did. I managed to escape the hell they'd created for me. I stowed away on a resupply ship. Overpowered the pilot and sold the cargo on some back-water planet to pay for a handful of mercenaries. I've spent the past three months bringing these murderers to justice. But I'm glad you're here for this one, Shepard. Wayne's the last of them. One last slice of justice, and then this will all be over."

"Please," Dr Wayne begged, "I have no idea of anything this man's talking about."

"Shut up," Shepard growled at the doctor, and he shrank back from her dark expression.

Liara suddenly felt uneasy. She believed that Toombs believed he was telling the truth, but Dr Wayne seemed so... helpless. So defenceless. He was just a benign old man. How could he possibly have done the things Toombs claimed? Shepard, however, seemed to believe Toombs completely. As a Spectre, she was well within her right to point her gun at the doctor and pull the trigger; if she claimed it was to preserve galactic peace, nobody would question her. The Council probably wouldn't even give a second thought to one more human being killed. Liara knew that Shepard had lost somebody she loved on Akuze; was that loss, that grief, strong enough to make Shepard murder somebody under the thin veil of 'justice'?

She glanced at Garrus, trying to weigh up his loyalties. As a C-Sec officer - or former C-Sec officer, at least - he was bound to protect people in this sort of situation, but he often seemed a little more... ruthless... than the average C-Sec officer should be. What would he do if Shepard agreed with Toombs? Would he stand by and let her murder the doctor? Would he try to stop Shepard? Would he anticipate that Liara herself would try to stop Shepard, and pre-emptively strike against her? She just didn't know; he merely watched the three humans without any visible expression, his yellow eyes taking in everything but focused on nothing. Oh, she wished that Wrex was here instead! She knew how he, at least, would see this situation. She knew where she stood with him, even though it would mean opposing him.

"Toombs," Shepard said quietly, "I can't even begin to imagine the horrors you've been through. In your place, I would want to kill Wayne too. Hell, even in my place, I want to kill him. But you and I are better than that, and we still have a job to do. We owe it to the rest of our unit to expose what happened on Akuze to the public. We owe it to the families of our fallen friends to give them an explanation, an answer. If Wayne dies now, the truth dies with him, and Cerberus will continue to get away with things like this. Please, let your anger rest for long enough to expose what these men have done. Perhaps we can stop Cerberus from doing this again, to some other soldiers."

"I should have known you'd see it like that, Shepard," he replied. "You always put others before yourself. Maybe that's why you're the hero, and I'm the lab experiment. Just... promise me that there will be justice. Promise me that this won't be for nothing."

The Commander stepped towards him, and held out her hand. "I promise. And I know someone who will help us." Toombs lowered his weapon, and handed it over to Shepard. Liara let out a deep breath. It was over. There would be no further bloodshed here today.

"Doctor Wayne," Shepard said, approaching the older man, "you have two choices. You can either face the justice of a Spectre, or you can come back and testify against Cerberus in a court of law."

Now it was the doctor who looked pale and sick. How easily these humans wore there feelings on their faces, Liara realised.

"If I agree to testify against Cerberus, I'll never make it to a court of law, Commander Shepard," said Doctor Wayne.

"You will now that you're under my protection," Shepard replied. "As a Spectre, I have access to resources far beyond the reach of Cerberus."

"I... suppose... that will do."

"Good." She pulled back her arm and then brought it round in an arc, her fist colliding with the doctor's face. He didn't even get chance to look surprised before his eyes rolled up into his head and he crumpled to the floor, a trickle of crimson blood running from the corner of his mouth. Liara jumped in fright at the display of violence, but nobody else did.

"Come on, Toombs," Shepard said, placing an arm around the man's shoulders. "Let's get you home."

o - o - o - o - o

_It was cold and dark, and the air was stifling. Outside the cave she could hear them, and occasionally the ground rumbled as they passed by her hiding place. They were angry, she thought, frustrated that their prey had retreated here and now refused to come out and be eaten._

_ "You can't stay in this cave forever," said Miguel. His face was dirty, covered in blood. She'd seen him die, but now he was back._

_ "You're not real," said Eloise, as much to herself as to the dead man. "This isn't real. This is just a dream. Just a dream. Soon I'm going to be rescued. Soon I'll be safe."_

_ "You will never be safe. Not for as long as men like Doctor Wayne walk freely, whilst our remains lie unburied on Akuze."_

_ "This isn't real. This is a dream," she said to herself, clinging to the mantra._

_ The scenery blurred and she found herself in the hospital ward of Arcturus station. For a moment she was confused, and then a voice in the bed beside her spoke up._

_ "You look like you've just seen a ghost," said Kaidan, offering a small smile._

_ "I think I'm dreaming," she replied._

_ "Yeah, I feel like that sometimes, when the pain gets so bad that I feel like being sick. Just before the meds kick in, there's this moment where everything seems light and floating, and I wonder if I'm dreaming. Hey, I heard about Toombs."_

_ "Toombs?" she asked, confused. He'd been a member of the team sent to Akuze. She hadn't known him all that well, had only spoken to him a handful of times, but he seemed like a good man. He was following in the footsteps of his older brother, who'd served in the Blitz._

_ "Yeah. Poor bastard. It's always a shame when the rescue teams don't get to someone on time. If only they'd realised he was there sooner. But who could possibly have known?"_

_ "Hey there, trooper," said a white-coated doctor. Ferry, she recalled. He glanced at the chart at the foot of her bed. "Time to get you some therapy."_

_ "I don't need therapy," she insisted. "I'm fine."_

_ "Nonsense. You've been through a very traumatic event. Don't worry, you'll like Doctor Wayne. He's out finest Counsellor._

_ "Doctor Wayne?" she asked, but there was no reply. Instead there was more blurriness, and she found herself walking down a dark corridor, towards a white light. When she reached the light she found it spilling out from the window of a wooden door. The words 'Doctor Wayne, Counsellor' had been printed on the marbled glass of the window._

_ "Come in," called a man's voice, and she opened the door. Inside the room she found Doctor Wayne sitting behind a desk. In front of him was a chair, all cold metal and sturdy straps. The Doctor smiled at her, and it chilled her to the bone. "Welcome, Miss Shepard. I've been expecting you. Please do take a seat."_

_ He gestured to the cold metal chair, and she hesitated. When he saw her unease, he made a gesture, and suddenly she found herself being manhandled by two orderlies. She tried to fight them, but she was unarmed, wearing only her thin medical gown. They forced her forwards, into the chair, and strapped her down._

_ "Don't worry," Doctor Wayne said. He held up a syringe full of yellow liquid, and gave it a tap. A few droplets of liquid fell out of the needle and onto the floor, where they began to burn through the carpet. "This will only sting for a moment."_

_ He leant down, lowering the needle to the vein of her arm, and she opened her mouth to scream._

Ellie sat up in bed, gasping for air. Her body was damp with sweat, and she realised she was shaking. "Time," she said. And the computer replied, "The time is Oh-Five Forty-Two."

She pushed herself up from her bed, disentangling herself from her blanket, and stumbled into the bathroom. There she switched on the shower and set the temperature to the cooler end of the range. After peeling her damp clothes from her body, she stepped into the cold stream of water and let it shock her to full wakefulness before slowly turning the temperature back up to a more tolerable level.

God, what a horrible dream! Why did it have to be Akuze again? Why couldn't it have been Eden Prime, and Nihlus? Granted, Eden Prime was the weirdest, most surreal series of dreams she'd ever had, but at least there she didn't have to put up with thresher maws, accusations from her dead lover, and people performing experiments on her. Of course, she knew exactly _why_ she was dreaming again of Akuze. It had been less than a day since she had brought both men back from Ontarom, and very soon she'd be back at the Citadel. So far she'd refrained from reporting to Hackett, because if he repeated his orders to her, she might not be able to bring herself to disobey them. Right now she needed somebody she could trust, and she wasn't yet sure how far she could trust the Admiral.

She finished her shower and then stepped out to wrap a towel around herself drying the moisture from her hair and body before dressing in her uniform. She didn't bother calling Pressly on the comm; he already knew to advise her when they were approaching the Citadel, and it wouldn't be for another few hours yet. Instead she walked through the ship and went straight to the medical bay, where Doctor Chakwas was working.

"How is he?" she asked, stopping in front of the medical bed which held the sleeping form of Corporal Toombs. He looked twenty years older than the last time she'd seen him, but Akuze had a way of aging a person that defied normal time. And from what she had been able to discern, the horror of Akuze hadn't ended for Toombs once he'd left the planet. It had stayed with him for these past few years as he was subjected to increasingly harsh experiments. There were scars on his body as well as his face, and he was currently sporting week-old stubble, a testament to how little his appearance meant to him.

"Heavily sedated," Doctor Chakwas replied. There was compassion and sympathy in her grey eyes as she looked at the soldier on the bed. "I had to get Pressly to do it. He wouldn't let me near him, but I can't really blame him. You know, after seeing what Doctor Saleon did to the people in his 'care', I thought nothing could shock me. Now, I find... this."

"Is it that bad?" Ellie asked. She didn't want to hear it. It would only be more guilt for her already guilt-ridden conscience to bear, but somebody had to know the truth. She owed Toombs that much.

"I'm not going to go into what was done to him, but I think the mental and emotional experimentation was just as traumatic as what he was physically forced to endure," said Chakwas. "It's as if they were trying their very hardest to break him, to see how far he could be pushed before finally snapping." She shook her head. "I struggle to believe that human beings - that my fellow doctors - are capable of this sort of thing. And yet I can see the evidence with my own eyes. Has that man in the holding cell told you anything else?"

Now it was Ellie's turn to shake her head. "Not since I interviewed him last night. To be honest, I haven't dared to go and see him again. Just being near him makes me angry... I'm afraid I might not be able to hold myself back a second time. You don't know how badly I wanted to kill him yesterday."

"I can imagine," Chakwas said. "It can't be easy for you, knowing that he is one of those responsible for the slaughter of your unit, and the death of your friend Miguel. Had I not sworn an oath to do no harm, I might even be tempted to kill Wayne myself."

"It isn't. I keep telling myself that this is for the best. That he has to stand trial for what he did, and that by giving evidence against Cerberus, he'll be helping to cripple their activities."

"Is Lieutenant Alenko still watching him?"

"Yes," she sighed. "I wish it wasn't necessary, but if he fears Cerberus more than he fears death, he might try to kill himself before we reach the Citadel."

"Here," Chakwas said. She removed a data disc from the medical computer, and handed it over. "Like you asked. All of the evidence of what was done to Corporal Toombs, to be used in court."

"Thanks. Did you make the copies I asked for, too?"

"Yes, though I'm not sure how necessary they are. Do you really think Cerberus will try to kill Doctor Wayne, _and_ Corporal Toombs, _and_ try to purge all data we have about them?"

"I'd rather not take any chances."

"Very well. I hope it's enough. Any group or individual who could willingly do this to a person doesn't deserve freedom."

She looked down again at Toombs' face, troubled even whilst he was sleeping deeply. "Don't worry, Doctor. I plan to shine a light so bright upon the activities of Cerberus that there won't be any nook or cranny small enough for them to hide in."


	31. Conversations

Deus Ex Machina

_31. Conversations_

Ellie had already decided that Rear Admiral Mikhailovich was an interfering busy-body who walked around with his head up his own ass, and her second meeting with him did little to change her opinion. As soon as the Normandy was on its approach run to the Citadel, she received a message from the Admiral, advising her that he'd meet her at the docking bay to take Dr Wayne into protective custody. Until now she hadn't mentioned anything about Toombs, and she doubted the Admiral was going to be happy when he found out the 'assassin' was still alive. Nor would he be happy about her intentions with regards to Doctor Wayne.

As the Normandy's docking procedure was completed, she stepped towards the airlock door. "Wish me luck," she said to Joker.

"I think you'll need more than a bit of good luck for this one, Commander," he replied. "You're good to go."

The door opened, and she strode into the decontamination chamber, waiting patiently for the procedure to finish. She was in no rush to see Mikhailovich; in fact, she was dreading it. Never before had she disobeyed an order from a superior - unless you counted the time when she had run back into the cave on Akuze, instead of continuing towards the vehicles - and now she was about to disobey not only the man in charge of the 63rd Scout Flotilla, but also Admiral Hackett himself. Without her Spectre status to shield her from being court-martialled, she never would have even considered it, but there was too much at stake, and she wasn't sure how much she could trust her superior officers.

When the Normandy's outer door opened, it revealed the Rear Admiral, and he was not alone. Two armed marines were with him, waiting a couple of paces behind him. Ellie took a deep breath, stepped forward, and wished she had a couple of her own marines at her back.

"Sir," she greeted the Admiral, with a terse salute.

"Commander," he returned. "I'm glad to see you haven't destroyed the ship yet. Where is Doctor Wayne?"

"I'm afraid there's been a change of plan, Sir," she said, ignoring his 'yet'. "I'm handing Doctor Wayne over to Rear Admiral Kahoku."

"What? I wasn't informed of this! You will have to remain here whilst I clarify those orders with Admiral Hackett."

"My orders don't come from Admiral Hackett, Sir. Doctor Wayne has information that is vital to Rear Admiral Kahoku's ongoing investigation into the deaths of his men, and as such, I believe it would be prudent to put Doctor Wayne in Admiral Kahoku's protective custody."

"You _believe_?" Mikhailovich asked angrily. "Listen to me, Shepard. Just because the Council granted you Spectre status does not give you the right or the authority to renege on the orders of your superior officers. You will hand Doctor Wayne over to me this instant, or I will have you court-martialled, your ship impounded, and your crew reassigned to new posts."

She stood up a little straighter, fixing her gaze on a point above the Admiral's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Sir. If that's to be the case, then you'll have to court-martial me." And hopefully, it would take long enough for him to get that court-martial to allow her to contact Kahoku and hand both Wayne _and_ Toombs over to him. She had promised Toombs there would be justice, and she owed it to not only the men and women who had died on Akuze, but also to those lured into the trap on Edolus.

"If that's the way you want to play it, Shepard," Mikhailovich snarled. "You and your ship will remain in this dock. If you attempt to leave the Citadel before Doctor Wayne is in my custody, the 63rd will be ordered to stop you with as much force as is necessary."

"Aye, Sir." She saluted again, but he didn't stay to see it. He whirled around and stormed off, the marines following him obediently. What they thought of her defiance she couldn't even begin to guess.

With nothing else to do except contact Kahoku, she stepped back into the Normandy's airlock, and almost collided with Tali'Zorah.

"I'm so sorry, Shepard," said Tali.

"Don't be, it was my fault. I've got a lot on my mind and wasn't looking where I was going."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Thanks," she smiled, grateful for the offer of a friendly ear. "But no. I have a couple of calls to make before Mount Mikhailovich erupts." She couldn't see the confused expression on Tali's face, but she knew it was there. "Don't worry about it. Are you heading out?"

"Yes, if that's alright with you. I have some messages of my own to send, but I need access to a Citadel terminal."

"Alright then. Enjoy yourself. I'll be here, waiting to be court-martialled, if you need me."

She watched Tali leave, and then returned to her quarters. If Admiral Hackett contacted her, there wasn't any way she could delay answering his call, but with a little luck, Doctor Wayne and Corporal Toombs would be under the care of Admiral Kahoku by then.

o - o - o - o - o

Tali'Zorah pressed the button for the elevator, trying not to look down over the side of the space dock. Heights, she was coming to realise, made her as uncomfortable as small spaces. Before leaving the flotilla, she'd never had true fears before. But neither had she been crushed beneath a large amount of rock, nor stood upon a precipice so high that to fall over the side meant instant death. _Am I soft?_ she wondered. Nobody else on the crew appeared to have any fears. Even Liara, who had been held captive by the geth, conducted herself with poise and confidence.

"Tali'Zorah!" somebody called, and she turned to find Liara herself trotting up toward the lift.

"Is everything alright, Liara?" Tali asked. Her friendship with the asari was still quite new, but they shared certain things in common; both had initially felt unwelcome amongst the humans of the ship, and out of place with so many knowledgeable people around. Both had lost a parent. Both struggled sometimes to understand the very alien humans.

"Oh, yes," Liara replied, looking momentarily startled, as if the question had surprised her. "I just wondered if you had a little time to talk. There's something on my mind that I wanted a more... balanced opinion on. I'd ask Shepard, but she seems so busy right now, and I don't want to burden her with my problems. Not that I want to burden you, either-"

"Liara, it's okay," she interrupted, before the asari could go apologetic. Liara tended to do that, when she thought she'd inadvertently offended someone.

"Then you're not too busy to talk to me?"

"Not at all. I was only going to do some quarian-stuff, but there's no hurry for that."

"Quarian stuff?" Liara asked, and Tali knew her interest was not feigned. Very few people cared about the quarians, seeing them only as vagrants and thieves, but Liara, along with Shepard, was one of the few Tali had met who took an active interest in quarian society.

The elevator door opened, and Tali stepped into the lift, and waited for Liara to join her before replying.

"It's not supposed to be done," she admitted quietly, "but quarians who are on their pilgrimage often leave behind messages for others who follow. On various different worlds or stations, there are accounts set up which can only be accessed by somebody with knowledge of the quarian language. The messages left might be anything from a voice message greeting, which can help with home-sickness, or a piece of advice about a friendly or sympathetic shop-keeper or security officer. The last time we were here, I found a message from a quarian called Kayven'Hanso who'd been on the Citadel after Shepard rescued me, and before we found you on Therum. He'd left a message for me, in response to a general message I'd left advising that Doctor Michel is a good person to see if any quarian has a medical issue, and asking anybody passing to help her however they can. I was just going to check if he'd been back to leave a message since."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you," said Liara. "You should go and check up on your friend's message. It's far more important than anything I have to say."

"Don't be silly, Liara," she replied. "I've never even met Kayven'Hanso before. And for all I know, he's long gone by now. Your concerns are of more importance to me."

"Well, if you're sure," the asari replied reluctantly.

"I am. Why don't we find a café, sit down, and talk over a drink?"

"I thought you couldn't drink whilst wearing your environmental suit?"

"I can't," she admitted. It was strange, but before leaving the safety of the Migrant Fleet, she had never before considered her life to be confining or restrictive in any way. It was only after seeing the freedoms that other species enjoyed, such as dining together or holding hands, that she realised just how much her people had changed since being driven from their homeworld, Rannoch, by the geth. "But that doesn't mean you can't have a drink, and we can't talk at the same time."

"Very well. Thank you, Tali'Zorah."

Tali nodded - a gesture she'd picked up from working with Adams and the other human engineers - and when the lift stopped, she stepped out into the C-Sec and made for the nearest exit. She had unpleasant memories of C-Sec; they had questioned her for hours upon her arrival at the station, and ignored her request to speak to the one in charge of the organisation, or the Council.

How different her life would be now, if C-Sec had listened to her, if she had presented her recovered data to the Council instead of to Shepard. Would she still be travelling aboard the Normandy, or, having never met the Commander, would she instead have been thanked and sent on her way, to continue her pilgrimage? Humans, she had learnt, had a superstitious concept called 'fate'. Was it fate, she wondered, that she had met up with Shepard? She had no idea; she was simply glad that it had worked out this way. Glad that she was getting a chance to see the Normandy in all its glory.

Because Tali had never felt all that comfortable in the Presidium, with it's rich clientele and self-important officials who carried their noses in the air, she went instead to the markets, to a small place called the Starlight Cafe. She felt far more at home in the markets, because trading was very familiar to her. Every quarian learnt to trade from a young age, and it good bartering skills were considered very important to her people. The ability to negotiate could mean the difference between making a good deal and making a bad one, and no quarian liked to be on the receiving end of a bad deal.

Beside her, Liara was looking around, and avoiding the glances of other asari, almost as if she didn't want to be seen or recognised. Tali didn't really understand the asari's behaviour; if another quarian had been here, she would have been overjoyed to have one of her own people to talk to. Liara, however, seemed almost afraid of her own people. Non-quarians could be very strange at times.

At the open-air café, Liara ordered a drink of something that looked like what the humans called 'coffee', and they each took a seat at a small table. It seemed to be a quiet day; most of the tables were empty, with only a few customers spaced around. At the far side of the sitting area two salarians were eating something that looked disgusting and talking rapidly between themselves. A turian and an asari were seated a little closer, and from the way they looked at each other, Tali guessed them to be a mated couple. At a corner table sat a lone volus, but he, like Tali, could not eat or drink whilst wearing his suit. Instead he was reading a datapad, and every once in a while he glanced up to survey the other customers before looking back at his pad.

"I'd almost forgotten how busy the Citadel could be," Liara said, glancing around at her fellow diners.

"Busy?" Tali scoffed. "This is peaceful. In the flotilla, only the Liveships have this much open space, but there would never be so few people in it."

"It's almost funny," said Liara, with a small smile. "However way you count them, there are a fixed number of people in this café, but our perception of whether it is peaceful or busy depends on our previous experience. I think I would go crazy very quickly if I had to live aboard one of your people's ships."

"I suppose I'm used to the chaos of life in space," she shrugged. Yet another human gesture! How odd her people would think her, when she finally returned to them. They might even think she'd developed tics! "But we didn't come here to talk about me. What's on your mind?"

"Oh, that," the asari replied, now with an expression of worry on her face. "I was just wondering... well... how do you know if somebody's a coward?"

"Who do you think is a coward?"

"Me."

"What?" Tali almost laughed, but caught herself just in time. Liara had a poor concept of humour, and probably would have thought that Tali was laughing _at_ her. "You're not a coward, Liara."

"I might be!" the other woman insisted. "Every time we go into a combat situation, I get nervous, and frightened. My heart races, sometimes I feel faint, and my hands begin to shake. I worry about having to kill people, and I feel bad about it afterwards."

"That doesn't make you a coward. It just means you're... well, you. A coward is somebody who constantly runs away from their own fears. The fact that you don't run from them, that you face them, means you're the _opposite_ of a coward. You're a brave person, Liara. One of the bravest I know."

"Really?"

"Yes," she said truthfully. "Even when something frightens you, you don't run away. You do what needs to be done to protect others... just like on Noveria. And you don't compromise your own morals for anything. You stand up for what you believe in, and that takes a whole lot of courage."

Liara looked relived by her words, but not entirely convinced. "Does it ever get easier? Do you ever go to sleep at night and think about the lives you've taken? How do you pull the trigger of a gun so easily, without hesitation?"

Tali took a moment to ponder the questions, because she'd never really thought about them before. Personal reflection wasn't the quarian strongpoint; pragmatism was far more important, because their lives were fraught with danger. A quarian who constantly stopped to ask themselves 'how do I feel about this?' every time a new situation arose, wouldn't live for very long.

Movement caught her eye, and she saw Garrus passing the front of the café, striding confidently and completely oblivious to both Tali and Liara. There was a look of focus in his eyes, and even though he no longer wore the uniform, every part of him still screamed 'C-Sec Officer'. It was, she suspected, a job which you could never leave, and Garrus, like many turians, had a strong sense of justice, coupled with a desire to pursue it. It was an admirable, though somewhat frightening, quality.

When Garrus disappeared from view she put him out of her mind and turned back to Liara. "I think," she said slowly as she tried to put difficult concepts into words, "that it's another matter of perception. In the Flotilla, we all do what we must to preserve our way of life. We all live with death peering over our shoulders, and we become familiar with it. We do what we must for the good of the majority, and place more concern upon physical matters than spiritual or emotional ones. I suppose to many species, we quarians might seem quite ruthless, but we've simply had to become more practical in order to survive in space. Do I lie awake at night thinking about the lives I've taken? No. I've never killed anybody who wasn't pointing a weapon at me. My conscience is quite clean."

"I don't know what worries me more," Liara said sadly. "That fighting will never become easier for me, or that it will. I would hate to become the sort of person who could just coldly lift a gun and pull the trigger, with no regard for the loss of life."

"For what it's worth, I don't think you'll ever become that sort of person, Liara," Tali said, smiling even though she knew the other woman couldn't see it. "You have a good heart."

"Thank you, Tali'Zorah. Your words have eased my worries a little."

Tali smiled as Liara took a sip of her drink. If anyone had asked her three months ago what she thought her pilgrimage would be like, she would never have guessed that it would involve geth, a Spectre, an advanced human stealth-ship, and reassuring an asari. As far as pilgrimages went, it could have been a whole lot worse.

o - o - o - o - o

It was fairly quiet this early in the morning, and the traders and shop-keepers had not been open long. There were a few tourists hanging around, identifiable by their wide-eyes and expressions of awe as they looked around the magnificence of the station, but otherwise the Prothean-made walkways were free of the throngs of people who would soon be waking and working.

It didn't take Garrus long to find the person he was looking for. The tall turian was standing in front of the large window several levels above the main space dock. He dwarfed the group of asari who were standing close by, looking out of the window and chattering about the impressive sight, and he ignored them completely. He didn't even respond when Garrus joined him; he just kept looking out of that window, his green eyes focused on something Garrus could not see.

"Quiet day," Garrus remarked, trying to break the ice. He leant forward and joined his friend in leaning against the railing, mimicking his position.

Chellick gave a non-committal grunt.

"When I asked at for you at C-Sec, I was told I'd find you here," he continued, feeling he owed some sort of explanation for his presence. "They told me about Kane. I'm sorry. He was a good officer."

"He was alright, for a human," Chellick agreed. Garrus just nodded. He could tell that Kane's death had cut Chellick deeper than he cared to admit; Chellick's words were accompanied by a slight flaring of the mandibles.

"I won't ask for details," he replied. Sometimes it was good to talk about things, but sometimes it was better to let them lie. Chellick was probably feeling guilty enough about the death of one of the officers under his command; he didn't need to talk about it. Only time would heal that wound.

"I wouldn't give you details even if you did ask," Chellick snorted.

There was no offence intended, and Garrus took none. Chellick handled a large number of C-Sec's undercover ops, which meant even most other C-Sec officers didn't know what was going on with those working for him. Everything was done on a need to know basis, to minimise the risk of danger to those involved. Unfortunately, something seemed to have gone wrong; a valued officer was dead, and judging by Chellick's behaviour, nobody had been brought to justice for it.

"What do you want, Garrus?" Chellick asked at last.

"Oh, you know, I just thought I'd come and spend a bit of time with my old friend. In case you wanted to talk about anything."

Chellick snorted again, and turned to face him. "You always were a terrible liar. You were looking for me before you'd even heard about Kane."

"It doesn't matter now," he replied. His own concerns paled in comparison to Chellick's.

At that moment, though, Chellick reminded Garrus of exactly how good a friend he was. He reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, and said, "Really. Tell me. I want to hear about that's going on with you. And it will give me something else to think about for a change."

"Well," Garrus began hesitantly, "you remember that case we had a couple of years back? The salarian doctor who was harvesting organs?"

"Case number 2451616. Doctor... Saleon, I recall." Chellick _never_ forgot a case. "How could I forget? That one hit you pretty hard. I don't think you ever accepted how it ended. You obsessed over it for months."

"Every once in a while I put out feelers," he continued, ignoring the 'obsessed' accusation. "Recently, I got something back. I managed to track Saleon down, and the Spectre agreed to go after him, to bring him in. Anyway, Saleon didn't want to come quietly, and I was forced to shoot him. He died. So... it's over. Case closed."

"And how does that make you feel?"

"Surprisingly empty," he admitted, with a sigh that made his own mandibles flare this time.

"Of course it does," Chellick said, as if it was the most obvious thing on the Citadel. "It's your biggest flaw. You can't let go."

"What? That's not true."

"Oh? Then why do you keep coming back here, Garrus? You're not part of C-Sec anymore. Why do you keep coming back? Why do you keep seeking me out? Why do you keep trying to solve old cases? A man can't live two lives, Garrus. Even my operatives can only sustain a second life for a certain amount of time before cracks start to appear. You either need to let go, and stop trying to be the C-Sec officer, or you need to get back to HQ, apologise to Executor Pallin, and ask for your job back."

"I keep coming back, because the Spectre keeps coming back," he countered. It wasn't as if he could ask Shepard to drop him off on some random planet before she came back to the Citadel, to report or refuel. "I keep seeking you out because we're friends; or I thought we were."

"We are friends," Chellick assured him. "But it's different, now. You're a civilian. We can't talk about cases like we used to. I can't tell you anything you want to hear. If you want to go back to the way things were, then you need to get your job back. Otherwise, you need to let go. Of this place, of C-Sec, of me, and of all those old cases that didn't end quite as perfectly as you wanted them to."

He said nothing. What was there to say? When he'd quit his job, he'd thought that was all he'd be leaving behind. He'd forgotten about the friends he'd made over the years. He'd forgotten the civilians who waved to him in gratitude for crimes solved and criminals punished. Had he made a mistake? Was Pallin's red tape a test of character that he had badly failed? Was politics and bureaucracy worth putting up with, for friendship and the chance to see justice done? At the time, he'd thought that Shepard needed him more than C-Sec did. In her, he'd seen how he himself had been years ago; overwhelmed by new responsibility, somewhat naïve, and completely out of the usual comfort zone. But she'd proven herself to be more than capable. She had an entire Alliance crew under her command. She had Liara, with her biotics, Tali, with her crazy knowledge of tech, and Wrex, with his millennium of experience and ability to open doors with his head. Perhaps now, C-Sec needed him more than Shepard did.

Chellick seemed to sense his thoughts. "We're all little parts of a big machine, every one of us replaceable. I'll find someone to do Kane's job, just as Pallin will find someone to do yours. You just need to figure out which machine you want to be a part of." He clapped Garrus on the shoulder as he walked past. "Let me know when you've made your decision."

When Chellick was gone, Garrus turned back to the window, and watched the tiny sky-cars fly past as larger trade vessels slowly navigated the arms of the station. He had a choice to make, but he wasn't very good at choices. Impulse reactions were what he was good at; planning and thinking, that was for people like Chellick, who liked to see the bigger picture so they had a clear view of where they were going. Garrus had never had that clear view, and he doubted he ever would.

o - o - o - o - o

The Citadel's assay office was a small, clinical room manned by a small, clinical salarian. As soon as Wrex entered the office, the salarian's eyes widened a little in surprise, and went wider still when he caught sight of the assault rifle clipped to his back. Wrex saw the alien's three-fingered hand slip under the desk, and he let out a sigh of disappointment. It was the same wherever he went.

"Relax," he told the salarian. "I'm not here to rob the place."

The salarian's hand did not come up from beneath the desk, but he did blink rapidly twice in surprise. "What can I... er... do for you, mister... ah..."

"Urdnot Wrex," he replied. Then he put the container he was carrying onto the table. "I hear you have secure storage here."

"Why, yes. For a modest sum of credits-"

Wrex through a credit chit down onto the desk beside the crate. The salarian picked up the chit and blinked again.

"I see. Well, of course, our secure storage is at your disposal. How long would you like to store your items for?"

"One standard galactic year," he said. Of course, he didn't expect this business with Saren to take anywhere near that length of time, but he wanted the peace of mind that came from knowing his family's armour was in a safe place. Say what you would about salarians, they kept to their contracts. Until the allotted time expired, nobody would get into the safe.

"Very well. Please allow me to examine your items so that I may accurately record what is being stored."

"Just one item," Wrex said, opening the crate. He took out his family's armour and placed it on the desk, waiting patiently for the salarian to examine it. Once he had, the alien pressed a button on his console and began speaking.

"Krogan chest-plate sporting orange clan symbol on left breast area. Weight approximately thirty kilograms. Checked in by one Urdnot Wrex for one galactic standard year."

The salarian took the armour and carried it carefully to a safe deposit box set into the wall, amidst rows of other safes. He put the armour inside the small vault and closed the door, then returned to his desk and handed a datapad to Wrex.

"Please enter a ten digit alpha-numeric pass-code."

Wrex chose "N7" five times - he thought Shepard would have liked that. Then he gave the datapad back to the salarian, who brought up a voice-recording console on his desk.

"Please enter a verbal password for voice recognition."

"Tuchanka," Wrex said. The salarian held yet another datapad forward.

"Please provide a hand-print, for genetic identification."

"This is a lot of security," Wrex said appreciatively, as he held his hand against the pad for genetic scanning.

"We pride ourselves on having the most secure storage facilities on the Citadel."

"And what happens if I don't make it back for my armour before a year's up?"

"Any items left unclaimed at the end of the contract period are kept for a further one-month term, to give the owner chance to collect them and pay a nominal fee for extra storage time. After that... items are considered to be abandoned and are sold at general auction."

Wrex grumbled to himself over that, but he supposed it _was_ only fair. And if he wasn't back for his armour within a year, he definitely _would_ be dead. Though the thought that his family armour might end up back in the hands of some thieving turian was not a pleasant one.

"Your item has now been securely stored," the salarian said helpfully. "Please do not forget your security pass-code, or your password, as you will be unable to reclaim your items without them."

"I haven't forgotten anything in a thousand years, and I'm not about to start now," he told the irritating alien.

"Um... have a nice day?"

Wrex left the assay office, stepping out into the Presidium. They only let him up here because he was part of Shepard's team, and as a Spectre, Shepard could do pretty much whatever the hell she wanted. Not that Wrex _wanted_ to be on the Presidium, or even on the Citadel itself. It was too full of aliens. Soft, fleshy, blue-skinned asari, who were a pain in the ass because they lived almost as long as krogans, and you never knew when you might bump into some asari that you'd tried to kill a few centuries ago. Hyperactive salarians, with their sharp, twisty minds, and their way of collecting information like it was going out of fashion - once a salarian got the dirt on you, it took a lot of cleaning to make that dirt go away. Tall, thick-skinned turians, with their codes of honour and lofty ideals of justice which made them a ball-ache to talk to, because they always assumed you were guilty of something. And more and more pale-skinned humans, who were only less annoying to him because he hadn't known them for as long.

Not that the station would have been any better, in the hands on his own people. The Krogan would have torn this place apart faster than the Keepers could put it back together. It would have become yet one more place for them to wage war, just another tool to help them continue fighting. Even fighting each other. Sometimes Wrex wondered why he bothered with any of it; asari, salarians, turians, humans, krogans... they were all as bad as each other. They just had different ways of stabbing you in the back.

He saw Gunnery Chief Williams walk past, though her attention was taken elsewhere and she did not see him. She hated him, he knew. She thought he was dangerous, bloodthirsty, violent. Well, maybe he was, but she was no different. She was just an animal that reacted on instinct; she preferred to shoot first and ask questions later. She was in no position to go sticking her nose up at others.

Shaking his head, he realised he was only making himself angry. The anger felt good, though. It had been a long time since he'd felt true anger. Not since that day at the Crush, when his father had tried to kill him...

Bah! It didn't matter. For now, he had an enemy to fight. Bringing down a rogue spectre was a worthwhile mission, all the moreso because that Spectre was a turian. How it must gall Garrus, that one of his people had fallen from his lofty perch! It just went to show that anybody could fall. Turians? They were just like everybody else.

o - o - o - o - o

Ash walked slowly from store to store, perusing the goods lists before moving on. None of them had what she wanted. She'd promised her youngest sister, Sarah, a model of the Citadel, but she was struggling to find a gift shop. Where were all the damn souvenirs? You'd think that at least one of these stores would stock the things, to fob off onto wide-eyed tourists.

"Hey, Williams!"

She looked up and saw two of the ship's marines waving at her from the other side of the store. Kyle Manning was sex appeal on legs. His dark brown hair was buzzcut to military regulations, but his face looked like it had been finely chiselled from stone by a master sculptor. Why on Earth he wasn't raking in a fortune as a model, instead of risking his life as a marine, she did not know. The man next to him, Lee Saunders, would have been good-looking, if he was standing next to anybody but Manning. Now, he simply looked plain, with his blond hair and pleasant blue eyes.

"Hey Manning, hey Saunders," she called back.

"We were just about to grab a coffee," said Manning. "You wanna join us?"

_OhmyGod_, she thought, and then silently asked her deity for forgiveness for taking His name in vain. _Did she want to get coffee?_ She'd always hated coffee. But right now, she loved it. Coffee was the best thing on the whole Citadel. An army of charging krogan could not have kept her away from that coffee.

"Well... sure," she said, with all the casualness she could manage. "I guess my shopping can wait for a bit."

She strolled over to the two men and insinuated herself between them. "So, where are we going?"

"We heard of this place, the Starlight Café, that's supposed to do great coffee," said Manning.

"Plus one of the asari waitresses is allegedly an ex-dancer from Chora's Den," Saunders added, before Manning could elbow him in the ribs.

"Uh-huh," Ash said skeptically. After having spent years in the military, she knew just what soldiers were like.

The Starlight Café actually turned out to be rather nice. It was a quaint little place, with small tables and comfortable chairs. The waiters were human and asari, and Saunders ordered a cappuccino for each of them whilst they settled in at their table.

"So, I hear we're off to Feros once the commander's done here," said Manning.

"That's right," Ash confirmed. Though right then, she would have confirmed pretty much _anything_ coming out of his gorgeous mouth. "Shepard thinks there's a lead there. Something that's gonna help us find Saren."

"Then we're going to kick some turian _ass_," said Saunders, punching the air with his fist. The other customers of the cafe gave him strange looks. One volus in particular subjected him to a long moment of scrutiny, before turning once more to his datapad.

"Could you possibly say that a little louder, next time?" Manning grunted. "I don't think they heard you out in the space dock."

"C'mon," said Saunders, "you gotta admit that we're in the most exciting place to be right now; on a top of the line prototype ship. Chasing down a mass-murderer. Under a frigging _Spectre_, man! I'd kill to be Williams right now."

"What?" Ash said, thoroughly confused. "Me? Why?"

"Don't you see? You get to go on missions with Shepard. That means you're special."

"So do Lieutenant Alenko... and all the aliens," she pointed out.

"It's not the same," Manning assured her. "L-T gets to go because he commands the marines on Normandy. Pressley may be the XO on the ship, but on the ground, Alenko's second-in-command. And the aliens... well, who _wouldn't_ want a krogan fighting on their side? I hear the asari has some insane biotic powers, too. But out of all the alliance soldiers on the Normandy, you're the one picked to go on missions with the Spectre. You know what that means, don't you?"

"That I'm more expendable than you?" she snorted. They were talking crazy.

"Quite the opposite," Saunders continued. "It's obvious that Shepard's assessing you. Why else would she take you on missions? She must be thinking of recommending you for N-training."

Ash shook her head. Both Manning and Saunders were N1 marines, but she knew that wasn't to be her fate. Ever since her grandfather had surrendered the colony on Shanxi to turian invaders, no Williams had ever had a military career to speak of. She'd already been stonewalled by every officer she'd served under, and it wouldn't be any different now.

"Hey, look," said Saunders, nodding at something with his head. "L-T. Wonder if he wants to join us."

Ash turned her head, and saw that he was right. Lieutenant Alenko was walking down the Presidium, though he looked quite focused. She suspected he had things to do and wouldn't want to join the people under his command for a mid-morning coffee, and she told the marines as much.

"You know, I heard that he and the commander knew each other before this mission. And that they're... y'know," Saunders said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"You have a one track mind, Saunders," she scoffed.

"So you know the inside score, then?" Manning asked. "All those away-missions with them... you must have picked up _something._"

"Yeah. The ability to keep my damn mouth shut, and my nose out of other peoples' business," she said. "Or have you forgotten that fraternisation isn't allowed in the military, Spectre or no? And if the CO and the L-T _have_ been close in the past... and even if they still are... do _you_ want to be the one who knows about it? Because if you know, then you might tell. And if the brass ever found out and disciplined Shepard, I sure as hell wouldn't want to know a secret like that when she comes looking for someone's head to roll."

"You make a point a point, Williams," Manning shrugged. "I guess whatever they do, or don't do, is their business. But I wouldn't go running to the brass, even if there was something to run about."

"Yeah, me neither," said Saunders. "Hell, we sacrifice enough for our jobs. There's gotta be perks somewhere, right?"

Ash let her mind wander as the men began discussing the pros and cons of relationships between military personnel. Could it be true? Was Shepard _really_ assessing her abilities? She scarcely dared to believe it, and yet if it _was_ true... perhaps once this Saren situation was under control, Ash might even have a chance to go to the marine academy. Even if she didn't make it past the tests for N1, it was still something she, and her family, could be proud of. She just wished her father was still around to see it.

o - o - o - o - o

In one of the offices of the human embassy, Kaidan took a seat, and called up the extranet on the desk console. He typed in a command, sat back, and waited. He didn't have to wait long. The image of a woman sprang up onto the screen. Her black hair was peppered with grey, and there were creases around her eyes - lines of laughter, and of smiles.

"Hi, mom," he said.

"Kaidan! When I saw your ID flash up on my omni-tool, I thought it was a joke! Do you know how long it's been since I last talked to you?"

"Err... I've kinda lost track of time," he said, running a hand through his hair. He always did that, when he felt guilty about something. Ellie had pointed it out to him early on during their friendship. "A couple of weeks?"

"A couple of weeks? Kaidan, it's been nearly two months!" He could tell that she was pissed, and rightfully so. He'd never left it this long before talking to her before. Not without sending a message of apology, at least. Even when he was on the batarian campaign on Sidon, he'd still been able to send her brief e-net mails to assure her he was safe. But she wasn't finished with the guilt-trip yet.

"I hear they made Ellie a Spectre, and that you've been promoted. Do you know _how_ I heard? It wasn't from my son, who vid-called me to tell me all about it! No. Jonas called me, to tell me about Parsons, and ask me if I was going to the memorial service. I told him I hadn't even heard that Parsons had died! Why didn't you tell me? You know your father served under him for several years. I shouldn't have heard about it from Jonas, Kaidan. He told me about you and Ellie, too. Now I know you're probably having a lot of fun, flying around the galaxy and playing with your new ship, but that doesn't excuse you from calling your mother every once in a while to tell her you're still alive. It was bad enough, worrying about your father. I won't worry myself to death over you, too."

"I know, mom, and I'm sorry. I really did mean to call you," he assured her. "It's just that... well, we've been doing a lot of work, and some of it covert. There's always something happening onboard the Normandy, and every time I wanted to call you, it seemed like I was pulled somewhere else. I promise, it won't happen again."

"Hmph." His mother unfolded her arms from across her chest. "I should think so. By the way, I saw your little piece of the extranet vid. You know, the one about the biotics?"

"I had a feeling you might." That thing had been viewed several million times since being uploaded, but so far, he didn't know whether it was gaining the biotics any sympathisers.

"Was that sick young woman really Rana? I remember the picture you had of her, as a girl. It's hard to believe that the implant has taken such a toll on her."

"It was hard to see her again," he sighed. He thought he'd finally put this behind him, but here his mother was, digging it all up again.

When she spoke again, genuine concern was etched onto her face. "And you, Kaidan? How are you? Does your implant still give you trouble?"

"No more or less trouble than it ever has. We have a really good doctor on the Normandy, though. She knows just how to treat me."

"I'm glad that you have somebody to take care of you. Now," she said, a smile breaking across her face, "tell me how Ellie is doing. How is she coping with the media circus?"

"Actually, she's doing rather well," he said, smiling in return. "She takes it a bit hard when something goes wrong, even when it isn't her fault. But she's a good commander, and a good captain for the Normandy."

"Is it true that you're working with aliens, too? And that your ship was co-designed by them?"

"Well, I'm not working with the same aliens who built the Normandy," he corrected. "But yeah. I've got to admit, it's been an interesting experience so far. They're nothing like the batarian slavers we were fighting against before. And I've learnt that... well... they're just like us, really. They get scared, and arrogant, and they laugh and cry. But Ellie's the one who makes it all work. I can't imagine they'd be welcome on any other Alliance ship, but Ellie just acts like they belong there, and everybody else falls into line."

"It's been far too long since you both last visited," she said. "Isn't it time you had some leave, to come and see your old mother?"

"Yeah, I guess." He ran his hand through his hair again. "Once the current mission's over, I'll put a request for leave and come home to spend some time with you. And if I can drag Ellie away from the Normandy, I'll being her too."

She smiled. "I hope your mission doesn't take too long, in that case. And you tell Eloise that I'll have a piece of pecan pie waiting for her when she arrives."

"I will, mom."

"It was good to speak with you again, Kaidan. But next time, don't leave it so long before your next call, hmm?"

"I promise. See you later, mom."

"Goodbye, son."

As the console de-activated, he let out a long, deep breath and tried not to think about what he hadn't said. There was so much he wanted to tell her; about the rogue Spectre, about the Rachni queen, about the Reapers... but most of it was classified, and the rest of it would only have worried her; not for herself, but for him. How could he finish with "take care, and by the way, watch out for homicidal machines responsible for wiping out the Protheans"? He wouldn't have said that, even if he could. His mother was safe. If the Reapers ever came back, they wouldn't head for the newcomers in the galaxy. They would go for the oldest Citadel race. They'd target the asari and the salarians, and the turians for their military prowess. Humans were small fry in comparison to the tasty morsel of the Citadel races.

Unfortunately, telling himself that didn't make him feel any better.


	32. Conspiracy

Deus Ex Machina

_32. Conspiracy_

"Why did you do it?"

The security barrier closing off the single cell of the brig, located behind the engineering section, hummed quietly. In fact, it was the only sound to be heard. With the ship docked at the Citadel, the engine had been powered down, and most of the crew were taking advantage of the lull in activity to visit the station to buy necessities and use the embassy's high-speed extranet bandwidth to vid-call their loved ones back on Earth and in the colonies.

Behind the barrier, Doctor Wayne was sitting on the narrow bench, which doubled as a bed. He looked up at Ellie, and considered her question for a moment.

"For starters, Cerberus offered us a lot of money," he said.

Ellie exhaled sharply, her breath coming out as an angry hiss. "You betrayed the Alliance, and allowed almost a hundred people, military _and_ civilians, to die for money?"

"Money wasn't the only reason, but it was a good motivator."

"What other reasons did you have? Did it satisfy your sadistic need to inflict pain on others?"

"I have no such need. And I regret what happened on Akuze, though I don't expect you to believe that." He stood up and walked to the front of the cell, stopping just short of the kinetic barrier. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, and what little grey hair he had left was unkempt. "It was freedom they offered us. Freedom from the restrictions of the Alliance. The freedom to pursue our own scientific endeavours... to have assistance and backing for our experiments, even. You're a soldier. You don't know what it's like to _know_ that your work can make a real difference in the lives of others... to know that you can help humanity, but to be restricted by the very people you're trying to save."

"Oh, so when you allowed a marine squad to be slaughtered by threshers, you were trying to _save_ them," she said bitterly. "I must have misunderstood your intent."

Wayne closed his eyes and shook his balding head. "You don't understand."

"No, I don't. So why don't you tell me?"

"I think not. I know what will happen. If I tell you everything you want to know now, you'll have no reason to keep me alive. There will be nothing stopping you from flushing me out of the nearest airlock."

"Doctor, there is nothing stopping me from spacing you _right now_, except my own integrity. Now, you don't have to tell me anything, of course. For better or worse, you're still an Alliance citizen, and you're entitled to representation. I'm sure whatever lawyer is assigned to you will advise you of what you should and should not say. But, eventually, you _will_ stand trial. And when you do, humanity's first Spectre is going to be called upon to give evidence. Which would you prefer; a glowing report from me, stating how you answered all my questions willingly and did everything possible to help with the investigation, or that you were cagey, unresponsive, and constantly lied whilst in my presence?"

"I... see your point," he relented at last. His face was pale and his pupils dilated; he was scared. Good. Though Ellie much preferred the simplicity of pulling a trigger, she did have other skills she could employ, when she had need of them. Persuasion was just another form of negotiation, and she had had some very good teachers.

There was nowhere to sit, on this side of the barrier, but she didn't care. She didn't want to sit. She didn't want to pretend this was some casual chat over coffee. She didn't want to adopt any position that could be mirrored by Wayne, that could be used to imply that she was his equal. She wasn't his equal; she was his better. So she continued to stand, and activated the datapad she had brought with her, which would record the interview.

"Akuze," she said, and felt her heart twist at the name of the planet where she had lost her closest friend. "What was the purpose of your experiment there?"

"We all had different reasons for being there. I was mostly there to study the life-cycles of the thresher maws, and observe their hunting behaviour. I planned to study them, in the hopes of coming up with a defence against them. We already know that they aren't endemic to one particular world; their spores spread throughout the galaxy, on alien ships, due to panspermia, carried by solar winds... wherever they go, they wreak havoc, and so far, attempts to defend against them have been... lacking."

"What about the others?" she asked. "What were they doing, whilst you were playing with your pet threshers?"

"Danvers was an ecologist. He wanted to see how the threshers reacted with their environment. Flynn was a behavioural psychologist. He was there to monitor the colonists, and the scientists who came with them, to determine how they reacted in a fledgling colony, and how they would respond to a thresher attack. Mayweather was a geneticist. She had this dream about creating super-soldiers. Nothing illegal, no genetic manipulation. Ironically, she thought that it was unnatural and that it would lead, eventually, to loss of diversity. She was into eugenics. Her role was to... err... ensure that the strongest left to reproduce, actually did so."

She did not need him to elaborate on that point. He might as well have said _'Her role was to harvest sperm and ova from any survivors, for artificial insemination'_. It was sick. All of it. And Ellie was glad there was a barrier separating her and Doctor Wayne. Part of her, the part that had spent years being haunted by the events on Akuze and the death of her friend and lover, wanted to put a gun to Wayne's head and pull the trigger. Even though she knew it would end her military career, she still wanted to do it. One thing stayed her hand, and it was not compassion, or pity, or even a desire to see justice done. Whilst he was alive, Wayne was bait. Cerberus might try to terminate him, to prevent him from testifying. And whilst that chance existed, she needed the creep breathing and unharmed.

"Are you still working for Cerberus?" she asked.

"No. We parted ways about two years ago. I wasn't getting the backing I'd hoped for from them. They promised money and resources, but they barely delivered at all. My work was side-lined, in favour of Mayweather's. Turns out, they were more interested in making super-soldiers than they were in creating technology to defend against threshers. I hadn't been in in contact with Cerberus, or any of my former colleagues, since that time."

"I suppose that explains why you didn't go into hiding when your colleagues started being killed off," she said. Then, she decided to plant a seed in his mind, that would hopefully turn him against his former employer completely. "You would have thought," she said casually, "that when your former colleagues started to die, Cerberus would have contacted you to give you a heads-up. In fact, they could have warned you to be on your guard as soon as Toombs escaped. It's not like you were hard to find. Toombs found you. I found you. And had I arrived even five minutes later, everybody involved in the tragedy on Akuze would have been dead. No evidence left to be held against Cerberus, except Toombs himself. All rather convenient... don't you think?"

Wayne did not respond, but he did not look pleased by the thought that Cerberus might have purposely freed Toombs and allowed him to kill his tormentors without even a word of warning or interference.

"Did you at least learn something of value from what you did?" she asked.

"Well, we learnt a lot about thresher maws. But I left Cerberus before I could come up with a viable way to defend against them."

She looked down at her datapad, at a name recorded in the original manifest. Something about it struck her as incongruent.

"Our records show that there was also a doctor Anthony Jackson working on Akuze, and that he died in a 'lab accident' six months before the thresher attack," she said. "Apparently, there was some sort of chemical fire, and Jackson was brought out as charred remains. But the rest of the details... how the accident happened, and why Jackson was working alone at the time... are a little vague. Why don't you try to fill in some of the blanks for me?"

"I suppose it's time the truth about Jackson finally came out," Wayne sighed. "Initially, Cerberus wanted all five of us. A package deal. Jackson was a biological chemist, working closely with myself and Danvers. But he didn't want anything to do with Cerberus. He didn't trust them... said they had their own agenda, and whatever it was, it wasn't in our best interest. When Mayweather suggested giving Cerberus a chance, just for a short trial, Jackson threatened to go to the Alliance Science Council and expose Cerberus' intentions, and our complicity. Flynn panicked. He and Mayweather rigged up the lab to somehow cause an explosion. Don't ask me how, I don't know anything about incendiary devices, or how to create one. They acted in desperation. They were worried that their careers would be ruined if their desire to work for Cerberus was exposed. Danvers and I didn't even find out about what they'd done until after Akuze, when Mayweather let it slip."

"How convenient, that your now-deceased colleagues can take the fall for Doctor Jackson's death too," she said angrily. "Perhaps if they were alive, they'd tell a different story."

"I've no doubt they would," he said. "And no doubt you wouldn't believe any of us. So you have my story, and you'll have to accept it as truth because not only is there no evidence to the contrary, but the only other witnesses to the event are themselves dead."

"Commander," Joker said, over the ship's comm, "Admiral Hackett is on hold for you."

_Shit_, Ellie thought. She wasn't ready for this. Although she'd sent a message to Rear Admiral Kahoku, asking him to contact her urgently, she hadn't had any response yet. No doubt Hackett had just finished speaking with that asshole Mikhailovich. Ellie _really_ didn't need this interruption right now, but there was no way she could delay speaking with the Admiral of the Fifth Fleet. She was already in enough trouble as it was.

"Patch the Admiral through to my quarters, Joker," said Ellie. "I'll take his call there."

"Will do."

"I'll be back to continue our discussion later," she told Wayne.

When she returned to her room, she took a deep, calming breath to steady herself, then pressed the button on her computer console to open the comm line.

"This is Shepard."

"Commander Shepard," said Admiral Hackett, his voice suffering some minor distortion due to latency, "I've just had the pleasure of speaking with a very irate Rear Admiral Mikhailovich. He claims you refused to hand over Doctor Wayne to him. He also suggests that I court-martial you, confiscate your ship, and reassign your crew, as punishment for your insubordination and mutiny. Do you have anything to say in your defence?"

"Yes sir," she said, standing straight at attention even though he couldn't see her. "As I told the Rear Admiral himself, my prisoner has information vital to Rear Admiral Kahoku's ongoing investigation into the murder of his men. I therefore thought it more prudent to hand my prisoner over to Admiral Kahoku."

"You disobeyed a direct order not only from myself, Commander, but from Admiral Mikhailovich as well," said Hackett.

"Yes, sir. But not without good cause. May I speak candidly, sir?"

"Go ahead."

She tried to quickly order her thoughts. She had one chance to convince Hackett not to court-martial her. She had to make it a good one. "If I was just a regular, run-of-the-mill Commander, sir, then I would not have hesitated in obeying your order to the letter. But everything that has happened to me over the past few weeks, indicates that my future may lie outside the Alliance chain of command. I was pulled out of a strategically vital mission, without being given the chance to say goodbye to the rest of my squad, and promoted to XO of the Normandy, even though I have no command experience. Then I was informed that I was a Spectre candidate; something that was arranged without my knowledge or prior permission. I was then promoted to full Spectre status by the Council - again, without being asked for permission - and given the task of hunting down a rogue Spectre, without any sort of back-up. Nobody, except my own crew, believes my visions, or believes that the real threat behind Saren is the Reapers. But regardless, I'm pursuing all leads available to stop Saren and his geth forces. With all due respect sir, I have been tasked with maintaining galactic peace. If you wanted a puppet or a mouth-piece, then you should not have picked me as your Spectre candidate. There are many loyal marines out there who would happily work as a Spectre whilst obeying the Alliance chain of command. But where they come into conflict, I have to, first and foremost, go with my gut instinct. And right now, my instinct is telling me that to help preserve galactic peace, I have to ensure my prisoner is handed over to Admiral Kahoku to help with his investigation."

"I understand your frustration, Commander," said Hackett. "You're the first Spectre we've had. You didn't ask for it, and you might not want it. But it's what we have, and we've got to work with that. I'm not going to court-martial you, or impound your ship, or reassign your crew, because we're still trying to work out what you being a Spectre means for humanity, and how you truly do fit into the chain of command at the moment. But I _am_ going to order you to hand over Doctor Wayne to Admiral Mikhailovich. The exchange will take place in one hour. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Good. Until the individuals responsible for the murder of Dr Wayne's former team are identified and apprehended, the doctor is at risk. You have your mission, and it does not involve babysitting a scientist."

She knew she had to make a decision. Nobody but her own crew knew that Toombs was aboard her ship. He was in need of medical care, and he would probably never be the same again, after his torturous experiences. But he couldn't get the care he needed on the Normandy. He required long-term rehabilitation. So she decided to trust Hackett.

"Sir, I already know the identify of the one responsible for the deaths of the scientists. In fact, I have him in my custody."

"And you just forgot to mention this to Admiral Mikhailovich?"

"Yes sir. You see, the man who killed the scientists is an Alliance soldier named Corporal Toombs. He was one of the marines sent to Akuze, along with my squad. Somehow, he survived, and was picked up by the scientists. Only, by then, they were working for Cerberus, and they were the ones responsible for the thresher attack on Akuze, and the loss of all lives... except two."

The line was quiet, but she could tell by the faint crackle of static that the Admiral was still there.

"I see," he said at last. "Well. Then you are to be commended for a job well done, Commander. What is the status of Dr Wayne, and Corporal Toombs?"

"Doctor Wayne is alive and well, and being held prisoner inside my brig. He's agreed to testify against Cerberus in a court of law. Corporal Toombs is going to need long-term medical care. The scientists who found him experimented on him for years. In essence, they tortured him, just to see what the human body was capable of surviving. My doctor has sedated him for his own benefit, but he has been through an experience so traumatic that it eclipses mine by several magnitudes. He needs help, sir. He's killed three people out of a sense of justice and revenge, rather than a love of killing. But I doubt he'll ever be fit for military service ever again."

"I understand. Please hand both Doctor Wayne and Corporal Toombs over to Admiral Mikhailovich. I'll have the admiral bring them both back to Earth, to be evaluated."

"Aye, sir."

"Once they are in the custody of Mikhailovich, you may continue with your previous mission. Keep up the good work, Commander. And don't worry about Toombs. I'll make sure he gets the help he needs."

"Thank you, sir. I appreciate it."

The comm line close, and Ellie finally allowed herself to sit down, sinking into one of the chairs. Her conversation with Hackett had gone as well as she could have hoped for, and better than she had feared. At least she wasn't going to be court-martialled. At least she could still continue with her quest to stop Saren and his geth from bringing back the Reapers. And if Toombs could get the help he needed on Earth, and Wayne could be kept alive long enough to testify against Cerberus, then perhaps there would finally be some justice for those who had died on Akuze. Perhaps, finally, she could put the loss of Miguel behind her.

o - o - o - o - o

"Commander? Are you there? I'm sorry to disturb you, but it's important."

Ellie groaned as she was pulled out of a dream by Joker's voice over the comm. She rolled over and checked her bedside clock, and the last traces of sleep were washed from her mind. Reaching out with her hand, she activated the comm panel on her omni-tool display.

"Joker, it's almost three o'clock in the morning. We're docked at the Citadel, in the heart of Council territory. What is so important that you had to wake me up at this hour?"

"It's Rear Admiral Kahoku, Commander. He's here to see you."

"What, right now?"

"That's right. I just admitted him into the airlock. He said you'd asked to speak with him urgently."

"That was over ten hours ago," she objected. She'd already handed both Wayne and Toombs over to Mikhailovich seven hours ago. "Did he say what had kept him?"

"No, and I didn't ask. But he seems a bit... ah... on edge. I thought it best to wake you."

"Alright. Please send him down to my quarters. I'll see him immediately."

"Aye."

The comm channel closed, and Ellie hopped out of bed and pulled on her uniform. Despite the late hour, she had no desire to be seen by a superior officer in her night-wear. She called up the lights and hastily pulled back her hair into a ponytail, just as the door buzzer chimed. She pressed the door entry button, and Admiral Kahoku strode in.

She did not know what Kahoku had been through recently, but he did not look well for it. His skin was dull and grey, and a rough grey beard that hadn't been shaved in days, at least, clung to his lower face. The whites of his eyes looked bloodshot in the corners, and dark bags sat beneath his eye sockets. The uniform he wore was creased, and looked as if it had been slept in more than once. The blue Alliance admiral's hat on his head was slightly skew-whiff, and she suspected he hadn't looked in a mirror lately.

"Shepard," he said, upon spying her beside her desk. She started to salute him, but he waved his hand. "No need to stand on formality. I got your message. Sorry I couldn't come sooner, but I had to make sure nobody knew I was coming to see you... and I've had some problems of my own to contend with. You said you needed to speak with me urgently... something to do with my investigation into Edolus?"

"Yes, sir. But it's... complicated," she sighed.

"Tell me everything you can."

So she told him about the mission Hackett had given her. How she'd gone to the planet and found Dr Wayne and Toombs. About the latter's accusations and traumatic experience, and the former's audio confession. How she had been forced to hand both of them over Mikhailovich several hours earlier. Throughout her retelling, he listened in silence, no expression on his face. And when she had finally finished, he took a seat on the sofa.

"Got anything to drink?" he asked.

"All sorts, sir. A lot of people on the Citadel thought they could bribe me with expensive alcohol, when I became a Spectre."

"Got any Earth whisky? If so, pour us one each."

She did as instructed, pouring two small measures into tumblers, and joining Kahoku on the sofa. She was not used to drinking with admirals, and certainly not used to such an informal setting, but she sensed that a lot was going on inside the man's mind, and that it was important to go along with him for the time being.

He took a long sip of pale golden whisky, winced as it burnt his throat, then sat back on the large chair.

"So. Cerberus, is it?" he asked. "I knew somebody was blocking my investigation, hampering my attempts to discover the truth, but I didn't know who. At least I finally have a name to go with the actions."

"Do you know much about Cerberus, sir?" Ellie asked him. She herself knew very little.

"Only what most people know. They're a pro-human group, not unlike Terra Firma, but less vocal. I wouldn't be surprised if Terra Firma is just their public face, or an organisation set up by Cerberus to make itself look like the lesser of two evils. Cerberus are for the advancement of humanity at any cost, but the Alliance has always had a difficult time tracking down their operatives. Now, I suspect I know why."

"And... why's that?"

"Don't you see, Shepard? Your unit on Akuze. My unit on Edolus. Everybody so insistent on getting Toombs and Wayne back to Earth. Unknown persons stone-walling my investigation. This obviously goes higher up the chain than either of us had initially expected. Somebody in the Alliance must be working for Cerberus. Maybe even several persons. And it must be somebody high up... high enough that they can cover their tracks, and nobody would ever question them."

"Who?" she asked. "Mikhailovich?" It was easy to imagine the bad-tempered Admiral working for a group as shady as Cerberus. "Hackett?" It wasn't as easy to imagine Hackett working for them, however.

"I don't know. Not yet, but I will." There was a determined look in his eyes as he spoke. "But for the moment, you and I have something more important to do."

"At three o'clock in the morning, sir?"

"This is the safest time for us to speak. I can't stay long. I have to be gone before six o'clock. But before I go... how well do you know your crew?"

"I trust them with my life, if that's what you're asking."

"It's not. I'm asking how well you _know_ them. It's very possible... in fact, very _likely_, that you have a Cerberus operative aboard the Normandy."

"If you don't mind me asking, sir, what makes you think that?" It didn't sound all that likely to Ellie, though admittedly, she'd spent the months before her promotion on Sidon, as disconnected with Earth and its politics as anybody could be.

"First of all, three people agreed to put your name forward for Spectre candidacy," said Kahoku. "Captain Anderson, Admiral Hackett, and Ambassador Udina. You were the one they short-listed, and that list wasn't very long to begin with. Second, Cerberus would _want_ a spy aboard the first ship co-built by humans and turians. They'd also want a spy aboard the first ship captained by a Spectre, and they'd want to get first look at that Eden Prime beacon. Can you get me a copy of your crew manifest?"

"Sure." She put her drink down and went to her computer, downloading a crew list onto her PDA, which she handed to Kahoku. She watched as he began scrolling through the list, and went right past the non-Alliance crew names without even blinking. "You're not bothered by my non-human crew-members, Admiral?"

"Asari or turians didn't put that beacon on Edolus, or set threshers onto your unit on Akuze, Shepard, nor would they ever work with Cerberus. Whatever aliens you work with is your prerogative. I'm looking specifically for people who could be Cerberus spies. Hmm... I see you have a Williams aboard. And that you picked her up on Eden Prime? Interesting. How's her service been so far?"

"Impeccable, sir," Ellie said quickly. She didn't want aspersions cast on _any_ of her crew, and as far as she was concerned, Williams had gone above and beyond the call of duty in her defence of Eden Prime, and her conduct on the Noveria mission.

"Has she ever done or said anything that might cause you to believe she's been subverted by Cerberus?"

"No, sir. Ashley speaks her mind, and she's not always keen on working with aliens, but she gets the job done without complaint."

"Her service record shows that she took a three month period of leave when her father died, several years ago. That would have been plenty of opportunity for Cerberus to have contacted her, and trained her as one their agents. Let's see who else is on your crew..."

Two hours later, she and Kahoku had checked the names of every single crew-member aboard the Normandy. A period of leave, or an absence from active duty was enough to raise the admiral's suspicions, and he insisted on cross-referencing the crew manifest with various other lists he had access to; criminals, xenophobes, sympathisers, and so forth. By the time they were finished, Ellie was mentally exhausted and physically tired. Kahoku hadn't outright accused anybody of working for Cerberus, but he'd put enough suspicions in her mind to make her wary of her human crew-members. He'd even suggested that Joker was in a perfect position to spy on comm traffic to and from the Normandy!

"I have to go now, Shepard," Kahoku said, standing up. His uniform was even more creased after two hours of sitting on her sofa. "I've got passage booked on a civilian transport. You won't be hearing from me for a while, I have to go quiet until they stop looking for me. But as soon as I have a lead, I'll contact you, and I'd be grateful if you could look into anything I may pass your way."

"Of course, sir," she said. "Though you could always stay aboard the Normandy, and run your investigation from here."

"Thanks for the offer, but it's not secure enough here. If the Alliance is listening, then the chances are Cerberus is listening too. Besides, I have some of my own contacts to follow up with, and some avenues to explore. I hope that once we're finished with them, Cerberus will regret the day they formed."

"I hope so too, sir."

"Oh, and Shepard... I'd appreciate it if nobody but you and your pilot knew that I was here."

"We'll keep your visit quiet, sir," she assured him.

When Kahoku left, Ellie took a seat at her desk, and activated her computer's holo-display as she rubbed sleepily at her eyes. Going back to bed now would be pointless; the ship was due to get underway in a couple of hours, and before then she had to finish filing her Wayne/Toombs mission report for Hackett. She'd wanted to be fresh for her visit to Feros, but she was no stranger to running missions on little sleep. She would cope.

"Joker," she said, over the comm.

"Yeah Commander?"

"Once Pressly is awake, ask him to do a crew count, and then get us aweigh. I want to be on Feros before any more of my past decides to become present."

"Aye, Commander."

o - o - o - o - o

The next time Joker called, Ellie was busy replying to an e-net mail form her former team. She'd already finished up her mission reports, had selected her team for Feros - Wrex and Kaidan - and was now killing time between jumps. Alliance conscription vids showed soldiers guarding, scouting, firing their guns, and receiving medals. It _didn't_ show them waiting around, painstakingly cleaning their weapons, or doing paperwork, because if they showed the reality of the situation, very few people would want to be soldiers, and even fewer would want to be officers. Nobody had told Ellie, when she'd enlisted, that one day she'd have a desk job. If she'd known it at the time, she _just_ might have chosen to stay with the gang.

"Commander, there's a Doctor Kay on the line for you. I just have to ask... is she hot? Because she sounds hot."

"Put the doctor through, Joker," Ellie sighed. This was the _last_ thing she needed right now.

"Alright. It's a vid-call, so I hope you're decent."

Of course it would be a vid call. Doctor Kay liked to see people's faces when they talked. All counsellors did. It helped them to gauge reaction, to understand the feelings and emotions of their victims... or "patients", as they liked to call them. And Doctor Kay was no exception.

When the holo-screen flicked over to the vid-comm channel, Doctor Kay's perfect blonde head appeared on the screen. This could _not_ be a coincidence, Ellie decided. Kay was most probably calling to check that Ellie's brush with her past hadn't pushed her over the edge again. You couldn't have humanity's first Spectre walking around being a head-case, could you?

"Commander Shepard, it's good to see you again," said Kay.

"You too, Doctor," Ellie lied smoothly. "What can I do for you?"

"I believe you've spoken with Admiral Kahoku recently."

"Not since I informed him of the fate of his men on Edolus," she lied again. Kahoku had asked that she keep their meeting secret, and she liked him a hell of a lot more than she liked Kay.

The counsellor sighed and shook her head. "I was afraid of this. What conspiracy theory did he tell you, Commander, to convince you to go along with whatever he's planning?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Doctor Kay," Ellie said firmly. She knew that Kay knew she was lying, but she didn't care. She was under no onus to answer to the counsellor, unless directly ordered to by a superior officer. In fact, her superior officer had _already_ ordered her not to disclose his actions to anybody. Therefore, it was going to take somebody of a higher rank than Rear Admiral to order her to divulge such information to Kay, and she didn't think Hackett would appreciate being disturbed by Kay for this.

"Commander, Rear Admiral Kahoku is not well. The loss of soldiers under his command on Edolus has pushed him into something of a nervous breakdown. For the past couple of weeks, his colleagues have reported increasingly odd behaviour exhibited by him, indicative of intense paranoia."

"Perhaps he has _reason_ to be paranoid," she countered.

"Like breeds like, Commander," said Kay. "That is why Kahoku came to you; because he recognises in you, traits which he himself possesses. I know that you have struggled, in the past, with authority figures. It's understandable, given your background. And I know that it's in your nature to see enemies everywhere. That's one of the traits that helped you survive until you joined the military. And, at times, I know that you have experienced bouts of paranoia, and we've always taken steps to address those in our sessions, to break them down logically and help you understand that there is no reason for mistrust of Alliance authority figures. But Kahoku has lost the ability to reason. The loss of his men has driven him to such grief and guilt, that he cannot see sense. He imagines enemies were there are none, because it easier for him to accept that his men were killed by some unknown force, than to accept that they merely died in a tragic accident under his command."

"An accident?" Ellie asked, barely able to believe these words were coming from Kay. "His men were lured to Edolus by the same group who set threshers on _my_ squad on Akuze. Admiral Kahoku has every reason to be concerned."

"Commander, how much do you actually know about the admiral?" Kay asked.

"I know that he cares about his men. That's enough for me."

"Then perhaps you don't know that three years ago, the Alliance military vessel on which his eldest son served disappeared without a trace. The admiral never got over the disappearance of his son, and he underwent therapy to help him come to terms with it. He was making good progress, until this situation on Edolus occurred. He obsessed over it, determined to find his missing men. And then when _you_ came along, and told him they had been lured to a planet and killed, he began seeing conspiracies everywhere. He has spent the past few weeks estranged from his wife and their other three children, chasing phantoms around the galaxy. The desire to find somebody to blame for the death of his squad, and, by extension, for the disappearance of his son, has driven him beyond distraction, to dangerous paranoia. The admiral trusts you, because you are the one who brought him news of his men, and he is aware of your background, and of what happened on Akuze. He trusts you, Commander, but he needs your help. If you see him again, or even speak to him, I would urge you to let me know his location, then I can send somebody to pick him up, and get him the help he desperately needs. His family miss him, Commander. His children want him to come home. Think of them, the next time you and Admiral Kahoku speak."

The screen deactivated as Kay ended the transmission. Ellie didn't doubt that what Kay said was true; the counsellor was many things, but a liar was not one of them. And she knew _just_ what to say, to appeal to Ellie's conscience. Dragging Kahoku's family into it was _very_ underhanded, but Kay had miscalculated. The fact that Kahoku's son had disappeared, along with the rest of his ship, only further reinforced her belief that the admiral _was_ on to something. Something big. And if Cerberus had also had a hand in the ship's disappearance, then Kahoku would not rest until he had uncovered its fate. There was no way Ellie was going to give him up, not matter how paranoid his peers thought he was. She, like Kahoku, knew the truth. She knew what people were capable of.

To clear her head, she left her cabin and went down to the mess, ordering a cup of decaf from the ships' cook. The mess was empty for once, so she took a seat at one of the tables, and rested her hands against her temples. Closing her eyes, she inhaled the scent of the faux-coffee, letting its rich aroma relax her. Saren. The geth. Reapers. Kahoku. Cerberus. Akuze. She dismissed all thoughts of them for one long moment, letting her mind settle to quiet stillness.

"Commander? May I join you for a moment?"

Ellie looked up, and held back the deep sigh that wanted to escape from her lips. The last thing she wanted right now was company or conversation, but as the ship's CO, she had certain responsibilities and obligations. And she knew that none of her crew would disturb her without good reason.

"No offence," she replied, "but I think I've had my share of doctors for the foreseeable future. You're not going to tell me something grisly, are you?"

Doctor Chakwas raised an eyebrow as she took the seat opposite Ellie. "Some doctor other than me is giving you trouble? I thought that was my prerogative."

"It's the psychologist who treated me after Akuze," Ellie admitted. "I thought I'd seen the last of her when I completed my N7 training, but even now, she tracks me down and pesters me. It's like I'm her child... or her pet." She shook her head, and gave Chakwas a small smile. There was no reason to make her own ship's doctor feel unwelcome. "And then, of course, we've had the pleasure of seeing the patients of Doctor Saleon and Doctor Wayne first hand. Is there something about being a medical doctor that attracts all the crazies?"

"I've often wondered the same thing myself," Chakwas admitted, in a wry tone. "Anyway, I didn't come here to pester you, but I do have something to report. Something which, as the ship's medical officer, I am _obligated_ to report, despite the wishes of my patient."

"What is it?" Ellie asked. "Somebody's ill?"

"Not ill, as such. It's Lieutenant Alenko. He has a migraine. A bad one. I want to put him under a neural field inducer, but he refuses to comply. He says he is going on the Feros mission with you, and asks that I inject him with as many beta-blockers as his body can safely handle. Giving him beta-blockers will help with the pain - a little - but you know as well as I do, Commander, that if he uses his biotics whilst under the effects of migraine, he risks overloading his amp, and causing irreversible neurological damage."

Ellie sighed. Kaidan was a stubborn ass at times. It was just like him, to worry more about the mission than his own health. She said as much to Chakwas, who nodded.

"He's still in the med-bay," said the doctor. "I would appreciate it if you'd come and talk some sense into him."

"I fully intend to _order_ some sense into him," Ellie said.

She accompanied Chakwas out of the mess and up the stairs to the CIC. The med-bay was located off to one side, and the doctor strode ahead, confident now that she had an ally to help her win her battle. Inside the med-bay, Kaidan was sitting on one of the beds, and he groaned when he saw his CO enter behind Chakwas.

"Kaidan," Ellie said, "Doctor Chakwas informs me you have a migraine, but you won't let her treat you?"

"I already told the doctor, it's just a bit of a headache. And she can treat me with beta-blockers."

"A bit of a headache!" Chakwas said in disgust. Her omni-tool was out, and she was scanning Kaidan's body. "Your endorphin levels are almost off the scale. I wouldn't even see these levels in a gun-shot victim. You have an incredibly high thresh-hold for pain, Lieutenant, but you are only human, and I guarantee, if you have to start fighting and using your biotics, you're coming back in a body-bag or comatose."

Ellie looked at her friend as Chakwas continued to chastise him for his foolishness. She knew Kaidan better than anybody, and over the years she'd come to recognise whenever he was in pain because of his poorly designed L2 implant. Right now, he was in pain. She could see it etched into his face; his eyes were narrowed, his jaw clenched. One of the veins on his temple was standing out, and his whole body was taut. To prove the doctor's point, she picked up a small medical light and switched it on.

"Alright, Kaidan," she said. "If all you've got is a bit of a headache, you won't mind me shining this light in your eyes." He winced at the suggestion, which was all Ellie needed to see. She put down the light and turned to Chakwas. "Start him on the neural field inducer, and dim the lights in here as much as possible."

"But the mission-" Kaidan started to object.

"Can be completed without you, Kaidan. I'm not having you blow your own brain out if your amp explodes because you're too stubborn to get medical help. For a start, your mother would kill me."

"I hate letting you down," he complained. "Letting the Normandy down. I feel like a burden, when I'm like this."

"You'd be more of a burden on Feros, if I had to constantly worry about you," she said. "Besides, nobody has to know you're in here."

"ETA to Feros is half an hour, Commander," said Joker over the comm.

"Kaidan," Ellie said, putting her hand on his shoulder and pushing him back down onto the medical bed. That he didn't resist was an indication of exactly how much pain he was in. "Your only mission is to stay here and get better. Once your migraine's gone, you can come on the next mission. I promise."

Doctor Chakwas stopped Ellie at the door to the med-bay. "Be careful on Feros, Commander. Try not to get injured _too_ badly. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring me back any more torture victims."

"I make no promises," she replied grimly.


	33. The Colony

Deus Ex Machina

_33. The Colony_

Inside the Normandy's cargo bay-cum-garage, Ellie closed the magnetic fastenings on her boots and stood up straight to survey the rest of the team. The Normandy was on its approach run to Feros, and Joker had informed her that since the colony appeared to have a space dock, there would be no need to take the Mako. Good news for Ellie, who could take her entire ground team minus Kaidan to investigate geth reports at the colony, and good news for her team, the majority of whom did not enjoy being inside the confines of the Mako as much as she did.

"We don't know what we're going to find on Feros," she told the team, as they finished fastening up their armour and checking their weapons. "The chances are we'll come across geth, so load your weapons with tungsten rounds, but take a spare clip of polonium rounds just in case we have to deal with hostile organics."

"I must say, Commander," Liara spoke up, "I'm looking forward to this mission. I've heard many stories of Feros, and the extensive Prothean ruins located there. I'd hoped to see it for myself some day, and now I have that chance, and much sooner than I had anticipated."

"Just remember, we're here primarily to investigate reports of the geth at the colony. Sight-seeing can be done once we're sure it's safe."

"Of course. I won't let my excitement get in the way of our mission."

"Hey Commander, isn't L-T coming with us?" Ashley asked. The young woman was locked and loaded, her assault rifle held in both hands, her feet planted apart in a confident stance, ready go to.

"Not this time, Williams. He has some matters to attend to on the ship."

"Commander," said Pressly, over the comm, "Joker is bringing us in to dock. Your team is cleared to depart."

"Roger that, Pressly." She turned to her team. "Come on, let's get to the air lock."

They followed her into the elevator, which took them up to the ship's second level. Up the stairs they went, stepping out onto the CIC. Some of the crew looked up from their workstations as Ellie passed, and she was glad to see confidence etched into their faces. They trusted their colleagues and their commander, working together as a well-oiled machine. She couldn't ask for a better crew.

The team reached the airlock just as Joker finished the docking procedure. He glanced over his shoulder at their approach, and gave her a salute which was only half-mockery.

"Good luck out there, Commander. Feel free to bring me some nice souvenir back from Feros. Maybe some Prothean dice on a string that I can dangle from my HUD console."

"I do not believe the Protheans used dice," said Liara. "And they certainly wouldn't have been held together by string."

Ashley smothered the grin which was spreading across her face, and Shepard patted the asari on the shoulder.

"It was a joke, Liara."

There was no chance for Liara to respond. The airlock door opened, and Ellie stepped forward, leading her team into the decontamination chamber. The screening process took only seconds to complete, and then the outer airlock door opened, revealing a small docking port. There was no noise to be heard; no voices of workers, no machines moving cargo, no announcements over a tannoy. All was silent. Ellie armed her pistol, and stepped forward.

The dock was less sophisticated than the one at Noveria had been. It was well-constructed but plain and undecorated, as if it had been put together in a hurry by somebody who did not care for aesthetics, and had chosen function over form. She glanced around, noting where crates would provide cover if necessary, her eyes scanning the gangways for movement. Only as she stepped clear of the Normandy did she see signs of life. A man dressed in civilian clothing was waiting for her, off to her right, on one of the walkways to the Normandy. He waved briefly when he saw her, his motion telling her to approach him.

"You must be with the Alliance," he said, noting her uniform, and the N7 insignia on her chestplate. "Thank god you've finally arrived. Fai Dan needs your help. The geth are preparing to send in another wave."

"Who are you?" she asked. "And who is Fai Dan?"

"Fai Dan is our leader," the man droned in a monotone. "You should speak to him. As for me, my name is-"

Blood erupted from his mouth, spraying the front of Ellie's armour, and his sentence was lost forever. Her team-mates sprang into action, and there was a flurry of motion from the other side of the port. Too late had they noticed the presence of several geth units. As the other members of her team returned fire, Ellie lowered the body of the nameless man to the ground, then took shelter behind a crate with Tali'Zorah.

"Shepard," said Tali, "I'm sending a program to your omni-tool. It's something I've been working on since our last encounter with the geth. A hacking program that I believe will temporarily disrupt their network link with other geth, rendering them inert for several seconds."

"This will be useful," she replied, watching the transfer progress on her omni-tool. "Good work, Tali."

"Thank you. Unfortunately, the program will have to be uploaded to each individual geth platform at a time. For the moment, I'm not able to target several geth simultaneously."

"Every little helps."

A blue glow enveloped Liara's body, and the asari sent a mass-effect burst at one of the geth. It was flung back against the far wall, where it exploded in a shower of blue sparks. When it dropped to the floor, it did not move. Distracted by Liara, two other geth units did not see Williams, Wrex and Garrus coming. The three emptied a round of bullets into the synthetics, and they too crumpled into piles on the ground.

Tali's geth hacking program was uploaded to Ellie's omni-tool just in time to be tested on the last remaining geth. Ellie selected her target and uploaded the program, watching as it slid effortlessly past the geth's firewall and installed itself in the neural network. Deprived of a large amount of its processing power, the geth stood still, its weapon silent, giving Tali the chance to blast it several times with her shot gun. There was no further movement in the port after that.

"I guess that means we no longer have the element of surprise," said Williams.

"If the geth know we're here, then Saren knows we're here," Wrex added. He curled his hand into a fist, crunching his knuckles loudly in the process. "Maybe we'll get chance to even the score."

Ellie activated her helmet's comm channel. "Normandy, be advised that we've already encountered geth forces. No sign yet of the ship from Eden Prime, but it's possible that Saren might be here. Ask Manning and a team of marines to guard the Normandy, and if that ship _does_ show up, your orders are to get the hell out of here. Understood?"

"Surely you don't expect us to leave you behind, Commander!" said Pressly, shocked at the very idea of abandoning his CO.

"That's exactly what I expect you to do. Whatever Saren is after is here on the planet, and if we stand any chance of keeping it out of his hands, I need the Normandy in one piece for an evac. Don't take any risks. That goes for you too, Joker."

"Aye, ma'am," the pilot replied.

Ellie closed the comm link and turned to her team. "Let's find this 'Fai Dan', and see what he can tell us about the situation here."

"That ships that Saren commands," Garrus said, "it really has you worried, doesn't it?"

"It worries me more than Saren himself and all of the geth obeying him," she admitted without shame.

"What does it look like?"

"Well," said Williams, answering for Ellie, "you know the Destiny Ascension?"

"Yeah."

"Saren's ship... Sovereign, was it? It's about five times bigger than Destiny Ascension. It looks like a giant, evil cuttle-fish, with five tentacles, and when it's coming down at you from above, to land on a planet, it looks like a malevolent hand trying to grasp you so it can crush the life from your body."

"Surely you must be mistaken," said Tali. "No ship the size of the Destiny Ascension can land on a planet."

"Ask the commander if you don't believe me. And the L-T. And pretty much the whole of the Normandy crew. We all saw it, on Eden Prime. I was there when it landed, and when it took off, and I'm telling you, it was real."

"And you truly believe this ship was used by the Reapers, during their extermination of the Protheans, Commander?" Liara asked, wide-eyed.

"Something like that," Ellie replied absently. She was too busy examining her surroundings to pay full attention to the discussion. Her team had just left the space port, and entered an area of brown-stone corridors. Water trickled down some of the walls, whilst others had been reduced to rubble by weapons-fire. This was obviously part of the Prothean ruins, because the colonists would not have had time to build using stone. They'd only been on the planet four years.

"What's the name of this colony again, skipper?" Ashley asked.

"Zhu's Hope. I've no idea what the place looks like, but at least the name sounds nice. Anyway, this isn't the time for idle chat. We know that geth are planet-side, and we need to be prepared for further attacks. I'll take point. Williams, you've got our six. I don't want to be caught unaware again."

Ash obeyed immediately, falling back to the end of the group, all of her senses trained on her surroundings. Everybody else fell silent as they too readied themselves for action. The _thud thud_ of their footsteps was the only sound Ellie could hear as she progressed forward, the noise echoing down the brown stone corridors. What had this place been, when the Protheans had lived here? And why had they abandoned it? Had the Reapers come and destroyed everything in their path, or had the planet been abandoned long before that point? Was this one of the Prothean homeworlds, or was it merely an outpost, for science or military purposes? She hoped she would find some of her answers in Zhu's Hope, even though she knew it was largely irrelevant to her mission.

A bullet zipped past Ellie's head and planted itself firmly in the wall behind her. Mentally swearing at herself for being distracted by the ruins, she raised her hand, fist closed, to tell her team to stop. Crouching down, she glanced around the open doorway from where the bullet had come, and saw several armed humans behind makeshift barriers. She'd almost been shot by one of the bloody colonists she'd come to save!

"We're with the Alliance military," she called out around the corner. "My name is Commander Eloise Shepard. My team are coming out to your position. Don't shoot."

Ellie stood up and stepped forward, her weapon held low but ready to be pulled up in an instant. Fortunately, there was no need for it. The humans had stood down, and judging by the tiredness in their eyes, she suspected they had shot in reaction to movement rather than out of a desire to harm Alliance soldiers.

"Sorry about that, Commander," said a human woman. Her brown hair was dusty, and she had a couple of untended cuts to her arms. She handled her shotgun with confidence, if not familiarity. "We're a little fried. Name's Greta, I'm one of the colonists. But you're probably here to speak to Fai Dan, right? He's back there." She nodded with her head, at what appeared to be a crashed freighter. "You can cut through the ship. He's guarding the entrance to the tower, with Arcelia. We saw a geth drop-ship set down somewhere near the tower about half an hour ago. Probably trying to hit us from two sides."

"Do you want me to leave one of my team here to help you?" Ellie asked. "They're all experienced at fighting the geth."

The woman shook her head. "It would be best if you spoke to Fai Dan, first. He's our leader."

"Alright. I'll speak to this.. Fai Dan," she agreed.

Gesturing for her whole team to follow, she set off through the rubble, along what appeared to be a makeshift street. Several pre-fab cabins had been placed in the settlement, though one had been completely burnt out. The downed ship seemed to be in slightly better condition; it was probably newer than the pre-fabs, she decided.

One thing became obvious quite quickly; the colony had been placed atop one of the old Prothean skyscrapers. Ellie could see the towering tops of other skyscrapers in the near distance, beyond the high walls and railings that gave the colony shelter. Up to the right was an extension of the sky-scraper; a tall, narrow tower, with a geth ship visible just behind it. Why the geth simply didn't target the colony from orbit and destroy it she did not know, but it was possible that whatever Saren was looking for was inside this tower, and that destroying the colony was too dangerous for him to attempt.

The colonists all seemed to be busy as Ellie and her team passed through their rough settlement. Those who weren't fixing equipment were helping the walking-wounded, or guarding important areas of their settlement against geth intrusion. Whenever Ellie tried to catch the eye of one of the humans, they looked away quickly, as if worried about getting her attention. It was very strange behaviour, because in their place, she would have been grateful for not only contact with the outside world, but assistance with the geth.

As she approached the freighter, she saw a brown-skilled salarian tinkering with an access hatch on the ship. His presence was unusual; Zhu's Hope was supposed to be a human colony, funded by the human research company ExoGeni. She hadn't expected aliens to be present.

For the moment she ignored both the salarian and the colonists. She needed answers, and the quickest way to get them was usually to speak to whoever was in charge. It didn't take long for her to find Fai Dan. He and a short-haired woman dressed in black combat armour were crouched behind another defensive barrier, their weapons trained on the open doorway to the base of the tower.

"Fai Dan?" she asked, and he turned to glance at her.

When he saw she wasn't geth, or one of the colonists, he stood and lowered his weapon, though the woman beside him did not move from her position.

"Alliance?" he asked.

"That's right. Commander Shepard, of the Normandy. We just docked and ran into geth. I'm sorry, but they killed your man in the port, though not before he told us to come and speak with you."

Fai Dan shook his head at her words, but the next instant he offered her his hand in welcome.

"I regret that David did not survive," said Fai Dan. "But you're here now. You can help us. That's good."

The woman behind the barrier snorted in disgust. "They send one ship and a handful of soldiers... most of them not even human. They _should_ have sent an entire fleet."

"Be quiet, Arcelia," Fai Dan told her. "These people are here to help us, and we'll take any help we can get."

"When exactly did the geth show up here?" Ellie asked. Anderson's intel was already weeks out of date. The situation could have changed drastically since then.

"In force, in their ships? A few days ago," said the colony's leader. "Up until then, we saw the occasional one, but they kept their distance. I think they must have been scouts."

"Have you seen a turian with them?" Garrus asked, his yellow eyes blazing with an inner fire.

Fai Dan shook his head. "Just geth. Geth, geth and geth. An occasional varren, too, but the varren attack the geth as often as they attack us. I never thought I'd be grateful for the beasts."

"We think the geth might be looking for something on Feros," Ellie continued. "Possibly a Prothean artifact. A beacon, or something similar. Have you seen anything like that, in your time here?"

"Prothean artifacts?" the woman, Arcelia, scoffed. "There are no Prothean artifacts here, Commander. Not within two days' walking distance of our colony, at least. Looters beat us here by a few centuries."

"And ExoGeni continues funding your colony, even though you've yet to uncover anything of value?"

"I guess they're serious about establishing a colony here," said Fai Dan, with a casual shrug. "This place is our home, now. Life here is harsh, even without the threat of geth attack, but we're determined to make it work."

"Alright," said Ellie. This place did not seem particuarly homely to her. In fact, it looked more like a war zone than anything else. Piles of rubble feet deep, damaged cabins, a crashed freighter... nobody in their right mind would choose to live here. Then again, some people _did_ like a challenge, and she suspected there was no challenge bigger than Feros. "I have to find and stop the geth. Do you know where they are going?"

"No, sorry. Though maybe you could find more answers at the ExoGeni headquarters. There's an elevator in the tower that will take you to a Prothean Skyway. You can cross it in one of the colony vehicles to get to the ExoGeni headquarters, but I'd be careful if I were you. The drop-ship is up there."

"Don't worry, we're well prepared." She patted her pistol. "But what about you? Is there anything your colony is in immediate need of?"

"What don't we need?" he said, with a humourless chuckle. "Food, water, power... a supply of military tanks wouldn't go amiss, either. I've got different colonists working on finding solutions to our short-term problems. For now, if you could get the geth off our backs, that would be a great help."

"We'll see what we can do," she assured him.

Letting him return to his former position, she led her team back towards the crashed freighter. "Let's split up and talk to some of these colonists," she told them. "I want as much intel as possible before we head out to ExoGeni. And see what these people need; maybe we can bring them supplies from the Normandy. Meet back here in fifteen minutes."

They split up and spread out. Ellie herself went back through the freighter, to where she had seen the salarian working. His presence in the colony had piqued her interest, and she wanted some answers to her questions. When she found him, he was still trying to repair the same access hatch, and he barely even glanced at her as she approached.

"Heard you got rid of some of those geth," he said without pausing his work. "Thanks for that."

"You're welcome. I'm Commander Shepard, by the way," she said, offering her hand.

He glanced at her proffered extremity, then stopped working to shake it.

"Ledra. Not my full name, but you humans can never remember it all, much less pronounce it. If you need any supplies, just let me know."

"You're a merchant?" she asked.

"I was, before my ship crashed. I still have a lot of stock left, which I'm willing to part with if you'll help us get rid of the geth."

"What are you doing?" she asked, craning her neck around to examine his work.

He sighed. "This door control was damaged during the last geth assault. I'm trying to fix it. Without much luck, I might add."

"Maybe I?" she asked, holding her hand out and gesturing at the soldering iron he was holding.

"Be my guest. I'm sure you can't make it any worse."

She activated her omni-tool and scanned the circuitry of the door control mechanism. Some of the wiring had been shorted, so she cut it away with her utility knife, and used the solder to create a work-around. "Give that a try."

Ledra tapped the door button, and it slid silently closed. "Amazing! You have my sincere thanks, human."

She handed him back the soldering tool and gestured at the ship. "How long until she's ready to fly again?"

"Fly? Fly?" He looked incredibly puzzled. "Why would I want to make the ship fly?"

"Well... to get off this planet, I should imagine."

"Oh, I don't want to leave," he said. "I like it here."

She glanced around, at the piles of rubble, dirty human faces, and burnt-out pre-fab. "You do?"

"Indeed. There's just something... special... about this place. I can't quite put my finger on it. But I'm very happy here."

"The other colonists treat you well?"

"They treat me just like they treat each other. When you're fighting for survival, I guess it just makes what species you are a little less important. And at least we can eat the same food, right? I'd hate to be stranded on a turian colony."

"I guess so. Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Ledra. But I have to go now. Geth to kill. You know how it is."

"Absolutely. And remember, if you need supplies, I'm happy to trade."

Ellie left the salarian and returned to her rendezvous point. Nobody else was back yet, which gave her a bit of time to run some scans. She swept the area with her omni-tool, looking for _anything_ that might be of interest to the geth. There was nothing. No erroneous power signatures, no hidden rooms within the tower, and nothing out of the ordinary in the composition of the ruins or the atmosphere. It was all very... odd.

The rest of the ground team returned a few minutes later, and she asked them for their opinions.

"These people are weird, Commander," said Williams. "With a capital 'w'. I've worked with colonists before, and they all tend to be stubborn and hardworking... there's just something different about these people. Like... I look in their eyes, but don't see anything looking back."

"I've noticed it too, Shepard," said Tali. "I spoke to several of the colonists, but I kept getting the same response. 'This is our home. If you want to know about the colony, talk to Fai Dan. He is our leader'."

"I saw one of the colonists trying to restore water," said Garrus. "She had no idea what she was doing. She was just randomly poking at a pipe with tools. When I asked if she needed help, she said she needed to restore water, and that it was very important. When I asked why, she just told me to speak to Fai Dan."

"Maybe Saren's using his ship to brain-wash them, like he did with Matriarch Benezia," Wrex suggested. "Though these people don't seem anywhere near as hostile as she was. I'm surprised half of them can defend themselves at all."

"What do you think, Liara?" Ellie asked. When there was no immediate answer, she looked around for the asari, and saw the woman sitting on a crate a short distance away, rubbing at her temples with her fingertips. It was reminiscent of what Kaidan did when he was suffering migraines, and she immediately grew concerned for her team-member. "Liara?" she asked, crouching down in front of the asari. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Shepard," Liara said, her wide blue eyes narrowed a little in pain. "Just a headache. But I, too, feel something is not right here." She closed her eyes. "It's almost... I can nearly... well, I don't know. I just get the sense that we are not alone here. I'm not talking about geth, or varren. Something... different."

"Rachni?" she asked.

Liara shook her head. "No. This does not feel like the rachni queen. Her mind was... easy, compared to this. Painless. A song of dream and memory. What I feel now is... I can't explain it. But it frightens me."

"There's no need to explain it. Whatever it is, we'll find it if it is relevant to our mission. Would you like to return to the Normandy? Doctor Chakwas has a neural field inducer which could help with the pain in your head."

"No, I don't believe that is necessary. It is not a pain, as such, but a sort of dull throbbing. I've only had headache once before, and this is nothing like that time. I believe that I can learn more by staying here."

"Alright. But if it gets worse, you're going back." She stood up to address the rest of her team. "In the mean time, I'd like you to stay here, Tali, and see if you can access any of the freighter's computers. I want as much information as you can gather. The ship must have scanned this area before crashing, so I'd like maps if possible, and whatever else you can get. When you're done, have a look at the colonists' systems. If you can get their power back online, you might be able to hack one of their terminals and find out what's really going on around here."

"As you wish, Shepard," said Tali.

"Commander," said Liara, standing up. "I would like to stay, too. A couple of the colonists I spoke to mentioned something about there being geth in the lower tunnels. The geth prevent them from going down there to salvage parts from old equipment and hunt varren to supplement their diet. I believe that if I can destroy the geth in the tunnels, it will help the colony to function properly once more." A dark blue guilty blush coloured her cheeks. "And I must admit, I would like to explore the rest of this skyscraper a little more. I don't doubt that most of the Prothean relics have been looted by now, but there may be writing, or something else which could help us to learn more about what happened between the Protheans and the Reapers. I believe that this is our best chance of learning more about the beacon which implanted visions in your mind."

"Sounds like a good way of killing two birds with one stone," Ellie agreed. "See what you can do for the colonists, and if you're able to dig up any Prothean intel, all the better. Williams, go with her. If the tunnels are filled with geth, it's likely to be dangerous." And privately, Ellie thought that if Liara's condition _did_ worsen, it would be best to have the asari close to the ship for medical attention.

"Aye, Commander," Ashley nodded.

"Wrex, Garrus, we'll take the Skyway to the ExoGeni headquarters and see what we can find over there. I want regular radio contact from all teams, and no unncessary heroics. Understood?"

There was a round of "Aye" and "Yes" and a grunt of reluctant agreement from Wrex.

The group split up; Tali to examine the freighter's computer systems, Liara and Williams to explore the lower tunnels, and Ellie, Wrex and Garrus to the Skyway. Whatever the geth were looking for here, she was determined to find it first. And if Saren was waiting for her at the ExoGeni office... well, she had an empty cell waiting for him on the Normandy. When the Council were through with him, he would never see the light of day again.


End file.
